Senada dengan mas Dwi, untuk pak Latif, siapapun anda, apakah muslim atau
nonmuslim, adalah hak anda untuk menuliskan pendapat di milis ini, tapi tolong
ya jika benar2 muslim, muslim itu tidak ceroboh yang bikin orang pusing bacanya.
Muslim harusnya menampilkan karya yang baik, termasuk disini tulisan yang rapih
tata bahasa dan ketikannya yang benar. Manusiawi banget kalau ada salah2nya,
tapi jangan kebanyakan lah salahnya. Silahkan jawab pertanyaan teman2 di milis,
mudah2an dengan cara yang lebih baik.

salam
AY
--- In wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com, Dwi Soegardi <soegardi@...> wrote:
>
> Ada beberapa pertanyaan untuk Pak Latif:
>
> 1. Mengapa Anda sering sekali salah ketik?
> Motivasi vs Mativasi, padahal o dan a jauh sekali letaknya.
> Ini memang tidak terlalu signifikan, tetapi selalu ada dalam posting Anda.
>
> 2. Anda berniat memperbaiki aqidah kami.
> Terima kasih. Pertama mari dicari titik temunya dulu.
> Apa yang Anda maksud dengan "aqidah"?
>
> 3. Anda mengutip ayat-ayat Bible.
> Apakah Anda tidak menemui ayat yang setara di dalam al-Quran?
> Selain "mengimani" ayat-ayat Taurat dan Injil di bawah tersebut,
> apakah ada ibadah ritual yang perlu umat Islam ikuti?
> Seperti pergi ke gereja, sinagog, mengimani Paus Vatikan, dibaptis, dll?
> Kan ada dalam kitab-kitab terdahulu?
> Bukankah umat Islam ingin maju?
>
> 4. Mengapa umat Kristen di Afrika dan Amerika Latin,
> yang penampilannya jauh lebih "kristiani" daripada
> masyarakat Eropa dan Amerika tidak jauh berbeda
> terbelakangnya dengan dunia Islam?
> Apakah mereka fundamentalis?
>
> 5. Pernahkah Anda membandingkan otentisitas kitab-kitab terdahulu
> Taurat, Zabur, Injil dengan kitab-kitab Hadis yang Anda bilang palsu.
> Tidak perlu cari studi orang Islam,
> orang Barat sendiri sudah banyak yang meneliti sejarah penulisan Bible.
> Bagaimana Anda memilih ayat yang Anda ikuti?
> Ayat mana yang Anda "buang"?
> Bandingkan dengan metodologi "memilih dan membuang" hadis.
>
> itu dulu.
> Saya harap Anda meluangkan waktu mendiskusikannya,
> sebelum membuat tulisan baru puja-puji untuk Padoeka Jang Moelia Amerika :-)
>
> salam,

Is this song suitable for Mr President?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VDRzlgtL6A&feature=related


Buddy you?re a boy make a big noise
Playin? in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo? face
You big disgrace
Kickin? your can all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you?re a young man hard man
Shoutin? in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on yo? face
You big disgrace
Wavin? your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Buddy you?re an old man poor man
Pleadin? with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/to-stone-or-not-to-stone-its-matter-of-interpret\
ation-say-aceh-authorities/343240

November 23, 2009
Nurdin Hasan

To Stone or Not to Stone: It's Matter of Interpretation, Say Aceh Authorities
Banda Aceh. Aceh's controversial Qanun Jinayat code, which allows stoning to
death for adulterers, would be difficult to implement because it was open to
interpretation, Indonesian law enforcers concluded after a two-day workshop here
over the weekend.

The workshop, facilitated by the Care for Shariah Civil Society Network (JMSPS),
which comprises 16 human rights and women's rights nongovernmental organizations
in the province, was attended by about 50 district prosecutors, district court
judges, lawyers, police officers and Shariah police officers.

Aceh's Shariah Court judges were not allowed to participate in the event because
they cannot give opinions on state law.

Khairani Arifin, a women's rights activist who headed the workshop, said during
a news conference on Sunday afternoon that the Qanun Jinayat would be hard to
implement in Aceh because there were such wildly differing interpretations of it
between law enforcement agencies.

"That's why these regulations have no legal certainty," she said.

Aceh's law enforcers, Khairani said, wante d the local government to re-examine
the substance of the code, which was ratified by the former Aceh Legislative
Council (DPRA) on Sept. 14.

She said the law enforcement agencies also did not consider the Qanun Jinayat to
be completely valid from a legal perspective.

The code, a set of local bylaws that were passed to replace parts of the
Criminal Code with aspects of Islamic law for the province's Muslims, imposes
harsh punishments, including stoning to death and lashings, for offenses like
adultery and premarital and homosexual sex.

The bylaws also mandate corporal punishment for rapists, child molesters, those
who drink alcohol and gamblers, and strictly regulates people's interactions
with members of the opposite sex who are not family members.

After the code was ratified by the legislative council, national and
international human rights groups spoke out against the regulations, calling
them draconian and a violation of basic rights.

Aceh's governor, Irwandi Yusuf, has also refused to sign off on the Qanun
Jinayat.

The new legislative council has said it is generally against the regulations and
is eager to revise them.

The recommendations from the workshop said the code should be reassessed because
it was not in line with the social, economic or cultural aspects of the people
of Aceh. They also said there was too much room for interpretation in the
bylaws.

"Aceh's people are not ready for stoning. Besides it is inhuman, humiliating and
could possibly create a backlash in society," Khairani said.

She said, however, that Aceh's law enforcement agencies were yet to take a
strict line for or against the regulations.

"But the JMSPS strictly rejects the two laws [stoning and whipping]," she added.

According to the law enforcement agencies, harsh punishments such as stoning
could be considered unconstitutional, and other punishments were not in line
with the principles of justice or equality before the law.

"For instance, it would be impossible for offenders to pay [compensation] in
thousands of grams of gold, which is stipulated in the Qanun," Khairani said.

The code stipulates a maximum of 60 lashes and a fine of 60 grams of pure gold,
or 60 months in jail, for sexual harassment.

The law enforcers recommended that the Aceh government prioritize Shariah in the
areas of improving education and understanding of Islamic law and jurisprudence.

They also said the Qanun Jinayat should be used to promote development and
social welfare, to give people a sense of justice and peace.




Related articles
Aceh Shariah Police Chase the 'Immoral'
6:07 PM 08/11/2009

Civic Groups Call on Indonesia to Annul Aceh Stoning Bylaw
10:43 PM 05/11/2009

Protest Over Ban on Tight Pants in Aceh
10:39 PM 29/10/2009

West Aceh to Ban 'Tight' Trousers, Shorts
4:25 PM 27/10/2009

Stoning, Caning Are Now the Law in Aceh, Local Legislator Says
10:12 PM 15/10/2009


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.dailychilli.com/news/358-recipe-for-sleepless-nights


Recipe for 'sleepless nights'

By FARIDAH BEGUM

FORGET Viagra.

Try this natural home-made recipe which has almonds and honey among its
ingredients.

The simple-to-brew drink is said to be more effective. And it costs a fraction
of the blue pill.

Women can also have it but be warned. This is really potent and it may cause you
sleepless nights (wink, wink).

Recipe:

200ml milk (fresh, UHT, anything)

6 almonds or 1 tablespoon ground almonds (skinned and pounded or ground - if you
want a quick fix, then buy ground almonds from the store)

1 egg (preferably free range eggs or ayam kampung eggs - must be fresh)

1 tablespoon honey (Tualang honey is very good!)

Heat the milk up until it is warm. In a blender, blend all the ingredients
together for a minute and ENJOY!

Published Oct 15, 2009


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Teladan Nabi

By: agussyafii

Pada suatu malam di Rumah Amalia ada salah satu anak yang
bertanya kepada saya, 'Kak Agus, apakah Nabi Muhamad suka membantu orang-orang
miskin dan anak yatim?' Saya kemudian menjelaskan padanya bahwa Nabi Muhamad
SAW selalu menolong orang-orang miskin dan anak yatim. Kemudian saya
menceritakan padanya, Pada suatu ketika ada langkah sepasang kaki terhenti oleh
sesegukan gadis kecil di tepi jalan. 'apakah gerangan yang membuat engkau
menangis anakku?' lembut menyapa suara itu menahan beberapa detik segukan sang
gadis.

Tak menoleh gadis kecil itu ke arah suara yang menyapanya,
matanya masih menerawang tak menentu seperti mencari sesosok yang amat ia
rindui kehadirannya di hari bahagia itu. Ternyata, ia menangis lantaran tak
memiliki baju yang bagus untuk merayakan hari kemenangan. 'Ayahku mati syahid
dalam sebuah peperangan bersama Rasulullah,' tutur gadis kecil itu menjawab
tanya lelaki di hadapannya tentang Ayahnya.

lelaki itu mendekap gadis kecil itu. 'Maukah engkau,
seandainya Aisyah menjadi ibumu, Muhammad Ayahmu, Fatimah bibimu, Ali sebagai
pamanmu, dan Hasan serta Husain menjadi saudaramu?' Sadarlah gadis itu bahwa
lelaki yang sejak tadi berdiri di hadapannya tak lain Nabi Muhammad SAW, Nabi
anak yatim yang senantiasa memuliakan anak yatim.  Begitulah lelaki agung itu
membuat seorang gadis kecil yang
bersedih di hari raya kembali tersenyum. Barangkali, itu senyum terindah yang
pernah tercipta dari seorang anak yatim, yang diukir oleh Nabi anak yatim.
Rasulullah membawa serta gadis itu ke rumahnya untuk diberikan pakaian bagus,
terbasuhlah sudah airmatanya.

Teladan  Nabi
harus   pula   dipahami   sebagai   keseluruhan kepribadian Nabi dan akhlak
beliau, yang
dalam kepribadian dan akhlak beliau disebutkan dalam Kitab Suci sebagai teladan
yang baik   (uswah  hasanah)  bagi  kita  semua  "yang 
benar-benar berharap pada Alloh pada Hari  Kemudian, 
serta  banyak  ingat kepada Alloh"   (Q.S.   al-Ahzab 
33:32).   
Dan  beliau  juga dilukiskan dalam Kitab Suci  sebagai  seorang 
yang  berakhlak amat  mulia  (Q.S. al-Qalam 68:4). Dengan demikian Nabi, dalam
hal ini
tingkah laku dan kepribadian 
beliau  sebagai  seorang yang  berakhlak 
mulia,  menjadi  pedoman  hidup kedua setelah Kitab Suci bagi seluruh kaum
beriman.

Tetapi justru karena itu maka memahami sunnah Nabi tidak
dapat lepas  dari  memahami  Kitab  Suci.
Sebab sesungguhnya akhlak Nabi yang mulia itu tidak lain  adalah  semangat 
Kitab
Suci  al-Qur'an  itu  sendiri, sebagaimana dilukiskan A'isyah,

isteri beliau. Dari Kitab Suci kita  mengetahui  lebih  banyak
perkembangan  kepribadian  Nabi  yang menggambarkan pengalaman Nabi, baik yang
menyenangkan
atau tidak,  yang  keseluruhannya menampilkan   sosok   Nabi 
yang  berkepribadian  mulia.  Dari pengamatan atas 
gambaran  itu  kita  dapat  memperoleh  ilham tentang  peneladanan 
pada  beliau,  dan  keseluruhan 
sasaran peneladanan itu tidak lain ialah sunnah nabi. Sebagai  contoh, dua 
surat yang termasuk paling banyak dibaca dalam sholat dapat
kita renungkan maknanya di sini.

Demi pagi yang 
cerah  dan  demi  malam 
ketika  telah  kelam. Tidaklah  Tuhanmu  meninggalkan 
engkau  (Muhammad), dan
tidak pula murka. Dan 
pastilah  kemudian  hari  lebih  baik  bagimu daripada  yang  sekarang 
ada.  Dan juga pastilah
Tuhanmu akan

menganugerahimu, maka kamu akan lega. Bukankah Dia
mendapatimu yatim,  
kemudian   Dia  melindungimu?!  Dan  Dia  mendapatimu
bingung,  kemudian  Dia  membimbingmu?! 
Dan  Dia  mendapatimu miskin,  kemudian  Dia 
memperkayamu?! Maka kepada anak yatim,

janganlah 
engkau  menghardik!   Dan   kepada  
peminta-minta, janganlah 
kamu  membentak!  Sedangkan berkenaan dengan nikmat
karunia Tuhanmu, engkau harus nyatakan! (QS. al-Dhuha 93:1-11)

Bukankah Kamu 
telah  lapangkan  dadamu?!  Dan  Kami  bebaskan bebanmu,  yang memberati 
punggungmu?!  Serta  Kami  muliakan namamu?!  Sebab  sesunggahnya 
bersama  kesulitan  tentu   ada kemudahan! 
Maka jika engkau bebas, kerja keraslah! Dan kepada

Tuhanmu, senantiasa berharaplah! (QS. al-Syarh 94:1-8)

Para ahli hampir semuanya sepakat bahwa surat  al-Dhuha  turun kepada 
Nabi berkenaan dengan peristiwa terputusnya wahyu yang relatif panjang, sehingga
menimbulkan ejekan dan sinisme 
kaum musyrik  Makkah  bahwa Alloh SWT telah meninggalkan Nabi
dan murka kepadanya.  Dari  latar  belakang 
turunnya,  surat  ini  juga menggambarkan 
tentang  suatu  dinamika  pengalaman Nabi dalam perjuangan beliau, sehingga
seperti
dikatakan  Sayyid  Quthub, Alloh  menghibur 
beliau  dan memberinya
dorongan moral, bahwa Alloh sama sekali tidak  meninggalkan 
beliau  dan  tidak  pula murka.

Alloh juga 
mengingatkan  Nabi  bahwa  masa 
mendatang  lebih penting
daripada masa sekarang. Dalam terjemah kontemporernya, Alloh  mengingatkan Nabi
bahwa perjuangan
jangka panjang, yang strategis lebih penting  daripada 
pengalaman  jangka  pendek,

yang 
taktis.  Oleh  karena itu hendaknya Nabi tidak putus
asa atau kecil hati  oleh  pengalaman  kekecewaan 
jangka  pendek. Sebab,
perjuangan besar selalu memerlukan waktu untuk mencapai hasil dan semakin besar
nilai suatu  perjuangan  maka  semakin

panjang 
pula  dimensi  waktu  yang 
diperlukannya.  Dan dalam
jangka panjang itulah,  selama  perjuangan  diteruskan 
dengan penuh  kesabaran  dan harapan, Alloh menjanjikan untuk
memberi kemenangan yang bakal membuat beliau  puas  dan  lega.  (Janji Alloh 
ini  kelak  ternyata  terbukti  dan  terlaksana, berupa kemenangan demi
kemenangan yang diraih Nabi setelah hijrah  ke Madinah,  dan  beliau  pun  wafat
memenuhi panggilan menghadap Alloh dalam keadaan menang dan sukses luar biasa)

Bersamaan dengan itu Alloh juga  mengingatkan 
akan  masa lampau  Nabi  yang penuh kesusahan seperti keadaan beliau yang
yatim-piatu, bingung tentang apa yang 
hendak  dilakukan  dan miskin,  dan  bagaimana
Alloh telah menunjukkan kasih-Nya pada

beliau dengan memberi kemampuan mengatasi kesusahan itu
semua. Dan  berdasarkan  latar  belakang itu maka Alloh berpesan agar Nabi
janganlah sampai
menghardik  anak-yatim,  atau  membentak peminta-minta,  dan  selalu  ingat 
dengan  penuh  syukur akan nikmat karunia Alloh
SWT.Wassalam,                                                                   \
                               
agussyafii                                                                      \
                                             ----
Yuk,Berbagi Nikmat Qurban bersama anak-anak Amalia. Dalam program kegiatan
'Qurban Untuk Amalia (QUA) pada hari Ahad, 29 November 2009 di Rumah Amalia.
Kirimkan dukungan dan komentar anda di http://agussyafii.blogspot.com atau
http://www.facebook.com/agussyafii atau sms di 087 8777 12 431
 






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Inilah kalau negara tidak dipimpin oleh orang yg tidak layak memimpin. Masalah
pasokan listrik yg kurang diatasi dgn mematikan AC, kipas angin, dls... tolol
betul.

Padahal banyak sekali sumber energi alternatif seperti pembangkit listrik Mikro
Hidro, energi angin, biofuel, biomass, gelombang laut dan lain-lain.

Tapi penelitian2 yg dilakukan tidak digubris sama sekali sehingga hanya menjadi
tumpukan sampah.

--- In wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com, noni marlini <noniemarlini@...> wrote:
>
>
>         Jawa Pos
> [ Minggu, 15 November 2009 ]
>
>
>     	 Kangen Jusuf ''Solusi'' Kalla
>
>
>
>     	 Catatan: Ibnu Yunianto
>
> 10 NOVEMBER
> lalu, Menteri BUMN Mustafa Abubakar meminta maaf kepada rakyat karena
> PLN gagal menyediakan pasokan listrik. Pemerintah berjanji, pasokan
> listrik di Jakarta akan pulih minggu ketiga Desember. Menanggapi
> laporan para menterinya, Wakil Presiden Boediono meminta departemen dan
> kementerian mempersiapkan pasokan listrik dalam jangka panjang.
>
> Pemadaman
> listrik bergilir lebih parah pernah terjadi Juli 2008. Tidak hanya
> menimpa kawasan permukiman di Jakarta, tapi juga kawasan industri di
> sekitar Jakarta. Puluhan pengusaha Jepang langsung memprotes Wakil
> Presiden Jusuf Kalla. Mereka mengancam akan memindahkan pabriknya ke
> Tiongkok bila pemerintah gagal menjamin stabilitas pasokan listrik.
>
> Menanggapi
> ancaman pengusaha Jepang, Wakil Presiden Jusuf Kalla bergeming. Dia
> meminta pengusaha bertahan dengan mengatakan bahwa Tiongkok pun pernah
> mengalami kekurangan pasokan listrik sebelum proyek-proyek
> pembangkitnya selesai dibangun. Dia berjanji pemadaman bergilir akan
> berakhir dalam sepekan.
>
> Setelah berhasil meyakinkan pengusaha
> Jepang, Kalla segera mengeluarkan maklumat. Kantor pemerintah
> diperintahkan tutup sebelum pukul 17.00. Lampu-lampu kantor dan reklame
> juga wajib dipadamkan, serta pendingin ruangan wajib disetel pada suhu
> 25 derajat Celsius. Pengusaha juga diimbau bergiliran bekerja dengan
> memaksimalkan pekerjaan pada Sabtu-Minggu, ketika beban puncak
> kebutuhan listrik berkurang. Hasilnya, pemadaman bergilir langsung
> berhenti dua hari kemudian.
>
> Sejumlah orang dekatnya mengatakan, solusi adalah nama tengah Kalla. Sejumlah
menteri pun mengakui ide-ide orisinal dan out of the box
> Kalla yang muncul begitu cepat dalam merespons persoalan pelik. Ketika
> orang lain berpikir untuk swasembada harus dilakukan dengan menambah
> luasan lahan, Kalla justru memerintahkan distribusi bibit unggul secara
> gratis.
>
> Ketika Departemen Pertanian menyodorkan proposal
> program peningkatan teknologi pascapanen, Kalla justru memerintahkan
> agar membagikan terpal plastik sebagai alas pengolahan pascapanen di
> sawah. ''Kalau setiap hektare ada satu kilogram gabah yang hilang
> ketika dipanen, ada 2 juta ton yang hilang setiap musim panen. Itu
> artinya tidak perlu impor beras,'' katanya.
>
> Ketika Bank
> Century kolaps, Gubernur BI Boediono dan Menkeu Sri Mulyani Indrawati
> segera meminta pemerintah memberikan penjaminan penuh (blanket guarantee)
> dana nasabah Bank Century. Usul itu ditolak Kalla. Wapres langsung
> menelepon Kapolri, memerintahkan agar pemilik Century Robert Tantular
> ditahan. Tiga jam kemudian, Kapolri melapor bahwa Robert sudah ditahan
> serta dana Rp 12 triliun yang dilarikan ke luar negeri dibekukan dan
> dalam proses repratriasi ke Indonesia. ''Untung saja waktu itu punya
> Wapres Jusuf Kalla yang tegas menolak pengucuran bailout,'' tegas anggota
FPDIP DPR Gayus Lumbuun di gedung DPR kemarin (12/11).
>
> Tak
> heran, ketika Polri dan KPK berseteru soal kasus Bibit Samad Riyanto
> dan Chandra M. Hamzah, banyak orang yang kangen dengan solusi ala Jusuf
> Kalla. Kasus itu diyakini tak akan berlarut-larut bila Kalla masih ada
> di dalam pemerintah.
>
> Meski tak banyak terdengar, kiprah Kalla
> dalam mendamaikan konflik terbuka antarlembaga tinggi negara sudah
> banyak teruji. Konflik terbuka antara Mahkamah Agung dan Badan
> Pemeriksa Keuangan tentang audit biaya perkara yang terancam berujung
> ke proses pidana -Ketua BPK Anwar Nasution sudah melaporkan Ketua MA
> (ketika itu) Bagir Manan ke Mabes Polri- dapat diselesaikan dengan
> mediasi Kalla.
>
> Seorang staf Kalla menuturkan, ketika kasus
> tersebut mulai bergulir ke penyelesaian melalui jalur pengadilan, Kalla
> segera mengontak Anwar Nasution untuk menawarkan penyelesaian di luar
> jalur pengadilan. Pada saat yang sama, Kalla pun segera mengontak Bagir
> Manan. Upaya perdamaian dapat mulus berjalan karena Kalla menggunakan
> pendekatan melalui jalur HMI. Baik Anwar, Bagir, maupun Kalla ternyata
> sama-sama pernah bergiat di HMI. Tak heran bila kedua tokoh yang
> sama-sama keras itu melunak.
>
> Setelah kedua pihak setuju
> menempuh jalur non pengadilan, proses perdamaian formal selanjutnya
> diambil alih Presiden SBY dengan mengundang kedua tokoh bertemu di
> Istana Merdeka. Setelah pertemuan, laporan Anwar ke Mabes Polri
> dicabut, MA melunak soal audit biaya perkara, dan Presiden SBY mendapat
> pujian karena dianggap mampu menyelesaikan konflik itu ''secara adat''.
>  
>
> Kalla tak hanya sekali memberikan solusi soal hukum.
> Beberapa waktu lalu, Kalla mendapat telepon dari Kepala BKPM Muhammad
> Luthfi. Dia mengeluhkan ada dua investor asal Singapura yang ditahan di
> Kepulauan Riau karena tertangkap tangan berjudi kecil-kecilan. Tiga
> bulan lamanya kasus itu mengendap di meja polisi dan kejaksaan,
> sementara proyek dan ratusan pegawainya terbengkalai.
>
> Sambil
> menahan murka, malam itu juga Kalla menelepon Kapolda dan Kajati
> Kepulauan Riau. Dia meminta agar kasus tersebut diprioritaskan untuk
> diselesaikan. Dua hari kemudian, kasus itu disidangkan dan dua investor
> tersebut dibebaskan karena masa penahanannya tepat dengan vonis hakim.
> Kasus itu sempat menjadi berita yang sangat menonjol di koran terbesar
> di Singapura, The Straits Times. Kalla mendapatkan julukan Mr Quick Fix dari
koran yang diterbitkan Singapore Press Holdings itu.
>
> Rasa
> kangen kepada Kalla tak hanya dirasakan masyarakat. Puluhan wartawan
> yang ngepos di Istana Wakil Presiden pun merasa kehilangan salah
> seorang narasumber terbaik. Kebijakan Wapres Boediono yang membatasi
> akses informasi dengan sangat selektif menerima tamu maupun menjadi
> pembicara di forum-forum publik membuat wartawan mati kutu. Bila pada
> masa Kalla wartawan di Istana Wapres dimanjakan dengan tiga-empat kali
> rapat sehari, yang setiap rapat selalu menghasilkan keputusan penting,
> sekarang dua kali sepekan pun sudah dianggap berkah.
>
> Wartawan Istana Wapres yang biasanya mengandalkan press briefing
> setiap Jumat untuk mencecar soal isu-isu terkini dan mempertanyakan
> kebijakan-kebijakan pemerintah kini banyak bengong. Menunggu-nunggu
> Wapres Boediono memberikan keterangan tentang satu-dua isu ekonomi,
> kadang kala. (leak)
>
>
>
>     *)Priyo Handoko
>
>    ikut memperkaya tulisan ini.
>
>
>
>       Mulai chatting dengan teman di Yahoo! Pingbox baru sekarang!! Membuat
tempat chat pribadi di blog Anda sekarang sangatlah mudah.
http://id.messenger.yahoo.com/pingbox/
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

http://www.dailychilli.com/news/1011-mussloini-had-14-lovers-at-a-time

Mussolini had 14 lovers at a time

Petacci was so jealous of the other women in Mussolini's (above) life that she
made him call her at least a dozen times a day

Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had 14 lovers at a time, de-classified
diaries of his mistress have revealed.

Claretta Petacci, a Vatican doctor's daughter, met Mussolini in 1932 at the age
of 20, and became his lover four years later. Her diaries cover the period from
1932 to 1938 and were released under Italy's 70-year rule.

In fact, according to the entries, Petacci was so jealous of the other women in
Mussolini's life that she made him call her at least a dozen times a day, and
every half hour after he got home in the evening, because she - correctly -
suspected him of betraying her, The Sunday Times reported.

She wrote down the times of the calls and their content. In April 1938, Petacci
described their exchange after she caught him having sex with his former
girlfriend Alice De Fonseca Pallottelli.

"All right, I did it. I hadn't seen her since before Christmas. I felt like
seeing her; I don't think I committed a crime. I spent 12 minutes with her," he
admitted. Petacci just interrupted to exclaim: "Twenty-four!"

"All right, 24 then, so it was a quick thing. Who cares? she's past it. After 17
years there's no enthusiasm; it's like when I take my wife," he said.

He told her the idea of sleeping with only one woman was "inconceivable" to him.
He said: "There was a period in which I had 14 women and I'd take three or four
every evening, one after the other. That gives you an idea of my sexuality."

The diaries also include her descriptions of their embraces: "I can feel that
all his nerves are taut and ready to spring," she wrote. "I hold him tightly. I
kiss him and we make love with such fury that his screams seem like those of a
wounded beast. Then, exhausted, he falls onto the bed."

After another encounter, she wrote that Mussolini had hurt her: "We made love
with such force that he bit my shoulder so hard his teeth left a mark."

He boasted of the "sexual education" he had given her and lectured her on the
benefits of orgasm: "Orgasm is good for you: it sharpens your thoughts, it
widens your horizons, it helps your brain, makes it vivid and brilliant." - The
Statesman/Asia News Network

Published Nov 23, 2009


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Bangga Menjadi Ibu Rumah Tangga

Penulis: Ummu Ayyub
Muroja'ah: Ust Abu Ahmad

Hebat rasanya ketika mendengar ada seorang wanita lulusan sebuah universitas
ternama telah bekerja di sebuah perusahaan bonafit dengan gaji jutaan rupiah per
bulan. Belum lagi perusahaan sering menugaskan wanita tersebut terbang ke luar
negri untuk menyelesaikan urusan perusahaan. Tergambar seolah kesuksesan telah
dia raih. Benar seperti itukah?


Kebanyakan orang akan beranggapan demikian. Sesuatu dikatakan sukses lebih
dinilai dari segi materi sehingga jika ada sesuatu yang tidak memberi nilai
materi akan dianggap remeh. Cara pandang yang demikian membuat banyak dari
wanita muslimah bergeser dari fitrohnya. Berpandangan bahwa sekarang sudah
saatnya wanita tidak hanya tinggal di rumah menjadi ibu, tapi sekarang saatnya
wanita `menunjukkan eksistensi diri' di luar. Menggambarkan seolah-olah tinggal
di rumah menjadi seorang ibu adalah hal yang rendah.

Kita bisa dapati ketika seorang ibu rumah tangga ditanya teman lama "Sekarang
kerja dimana?" rasanya terasa berat untuk menjawab, berusaha mengalihkan
pembicaraan atau menjawab dengan suara lirih sambil tertunduk "Saya adalah ibu
rumah tangga". Rasanya malu! Apalagi jika teman lama yang menanyakan itu
"sukses" berkarir di sebuah perusahaan besar. Atau kita bisa dapati ketika ada
seorang muslimah lulusan universitas ternama dengan prestasi bagus atau bahkan
berpredikat cumlaude hendak berkhidmat di rumah menjadi seorang istri dan ibu
bagi anak-anak, dia harus berhadapan dengan "nasehat" dari bapak tercintanya:
"Putriku! Kamu kan sudah sarjana, cumlaude lagi! Sayang kalau cuma di rumah saja
ngurus suami dan anak." Padahal, putri tercintanya hendak berkhidmat dengan
sesuatu yang mulia, yaitu sesuatu yang memang menjadi tanggung jawabnya. Disana
ia ingin mencari surga.

Ibu Sebagai Seorang Pendidik

Syaikh Muhammad bin Shalih al `Utsaimin rahimahullah mengatakan bahwa perbaikan
masyarakat bisa dilakukan dengan dua cara: Pertama, perbaikan secara lahiriah,
yaitu perbaikan yang berlangsung di pasar, masjid, dan berbagai urusan lahiriah
lainnya. Hal ini banyak didominasi kaum lelaki, karena merekalah yang sering
nampak dan keluar rumah. Kedua, perbaikan masyarakat di balik layar, yaitu
perbaikan yang dilakukan di dalam rumah. Sebagian besar peran ini diserahkan
pada kaum wanita sebab wanita merupakan pengurus rumah. Hal ini sebagaimana
difirmankan Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala yang artinya:

"Dan hendaklah kalian tetap di rumah kalian dan janganlah kalian berhias dan
bertingkah laku seperti orang-orang jahiliyah yang dahulu dan dirikanlah sholat,
tunaikanlah zakat dan taatilah Allah dan Rasul-Nya. Sesungguhnya Allah bermaksud
hendak menghilangkan dosa kalian, hai Ahlul Bait dan membersihkan kamu
sebersih-bersihnya." (QS. Al-Ahzab: 33)

Pertumbuhan generasi suatu bangsa adalah pertama kali berada di buaian para ibu.
Ini berarti seorang ibu telah mengambil jatah yang besar dalam pembentukan
pribadi sebuah generasi. Ini adalah tugas yang besar! Mengajari mereka kalimat
Laa Ilaaha Illallah, menancapkan tauhid ke dada-dada mereka, menanamkan
kecintaan pada Al Quran dan As Sunah sebagai pedoman hidup, kecintaan pada ilmu,
kecintaan pada Al Haq, mengajari mereka bagaimana beribadah pada Allah yang
telah menciptakan mereka, mengajari mereka akhlak-akhlak mulia, mengajari mereka
bagaimana menjadi pemberani tapi tidak sombong, mengajari mereka untuk
bersyukur, mengajari bersabar, mengajari mereka arti disiplin, tanggung jawab,
mengajari mereka rasa empati, menghargai orang lain, memaafkan, dan masih banyak
lagi. Termasuk di dalamnya hal yang menurut banyak orang dianggap sebagai
sesuatu yang kecil dan remeh, seperti mengajarkan pada anak adab ke kamar mandi.
Bukan hanya sekedar supaya anak tau bahwa masuk kamar mandi itu dengan kaki
kiri, tapi bagaimana supaya hal semacam itu bisa menjadi kebiasaan yang lekat
padanya. Butuh ketelatenan dan kesabaran untuk membiasakannya.

Sebuah Tanggung Jawab

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala berfirman, yang artinya:

"Hai orang-orang yang beriman, peliharalah dirimu dan keluargamu dari api neraka
yang bahan bakarnya manusia dan batu, penjaganya malaikat-malaikat yang kasar,
yang keras, yang tidak mendurhakai Allah terhadap apa yang diperintahkan-Nya
kepada mereka dan selalu mengerjakan apa yang diperintahkan." (QS. At Tahrim: 6)

Firman Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala yang artinya: "Peliharalah dirimu dan
keluargamu!" di atas menggunakan Fi'il Amr (kata kerja perintah) yang
menunjukkan bahwa hukumnya wajib. Oleh karena itu semua kaum muslimin yang
mempunyai keluarga wajib menyelamatkan diri dan keluarga dari bahaya api neraka.

Tentang Surat At Tahrim ayat ke-6 ini, Ali bin Abi Thalib radhiyallahu `anhu
berkata, "Ajarkan kebaikan kepada dirimu dan keluargamu." (Diriwayatkan oleh Al
Hakim dalam Mustadrak-nya (IV/494), dan ia mengatakan hadist ini shahih
berdasarkan syarat Bukhari dan Muslim, sekalipun keduanya tidak mengeluarkannya)

Muqatil mengatakan bahwa maksud ayat tersebut adalah, setiap muslim harus
mendidik diri dan keluarganya dengan cara memerintahkan mereka untuk mengerjakan
kebaikan dan melarang mereka dari perbuatan maksiat.

Ibnu Qoyyim menjelaskan bahwa beberapa ulama mengatakan bahwa Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala akan meminta pertanggungjawaban setiap orang tua tentang anaknya pada
hari kiamat sebelum si anak sendiri meminta pertanggungjawaban orang tuanya.
Sebagaimana seorang ayah itu mempunyai hak atas anaknya, maka anak pun mempunyai
hak atas ayahnya. Jika Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala berfirman, "Kami wajibkan
kepada manusia agar berbuat baik kepada kedua orang tuanya." (QS. Al Ankabut:
7), maka disamping itu Allah juga berfirman, "Peliharalah dirimu dan keluargamu
dari api neraka yang berbahan bakar manusia dan batu." (QS. At Tahrim: 6)

Ibnu Qoyyim selanjutnya menjelaskan bahwa barang siapa yang mengabaikan
pendidikan anaknya dalam hal-hal yang bermanfaat baginya, lalu ia membiarkan
begitu saja, berarti telah melakukan kesalahan besar. Mayoritas penyebab
kerusakan anak adalah akibat orang tua yang acuh tak acuh terhadap anak mereka,
tidak mau mengajarkan kewajiban dan sunnah agama. Mereka menyia-nyiakan anak
ketika masih kecil sehingga mereka tidak bisa mengambil keuntungan dari anak
mereka ketika dewasa, sang anak pun tidak bisa menjadi anak yang bermanfaat bagi
ayahnya.

Adapun dalil yang lain diantaranya adalah firman Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala yang
artinya:

"dan berilah peringatan kepada kerabatmu yang dekat." (QS asy Syu'ara': 214)

Abdullah bin Umar radhiyallahu `anhuma mengatakan bahwa Rasulullah shalallahu
`alaihi wa sallam bersabda (yang artinya), "Kaum lelaki adalah pemimpin bagi
keluarganya di rumah, dia bertanggung jawab atas keluarganya. Wanita pun
pemimpin yang mengurusi rumah suami dan anak-anaknya. Dia pun bertanggung jawab
atas diri mereka. Budak seorang pria pun jadi pemimpin mengurusi harta tuannya,
dia pun bertanggung jawab atas kepengurusannya. Kalian semua adalah pemimpin dan
bertanggung jawab atas kepemimpinannya." (HR. Bukhari 2/91)

Dari keterangan di atas, nampak jelas bahwa setiap insan yang ada hubungan
keluarga dan kerabat hendaknya saling bekerja sama, saling menasehati dan turut
mendidik keluarga. Utamanya orang tua kepada anak, karena mereka sangat
membutuhkan bimbingannya. Orang tua hendaknya memelihara fitrah anak agar tidak
kena noda syirik dan dosa-dosa lainnya. Ini adalah tanggung jawab yang besar
yang kita akan dimintai pertanggungjawaban tentangnya.

Siapa Menanam, Dia akan Menuai Benih

Bagaimana hati seorang ibu melihat anak-anaknya tumbuh? Ketika tabungan anak
kita yang usia 5 tahun mulai menumpuk, "Mau untuk apa nak, tabungannya?" Mata
rasanya haru ketika seketika anak menjawab "Mau buat beli CD murotal, Mi!"
padahal anak-anak lain kebanyakan akan menjawab "Mau buat beli PS!" Atau ketika
ditanya tentang cita-cita, "Adek pengen jadi ulama!" Haru! mendengar jawaban ini
dari seorang anak tatkala ana-anak seusianya bermimpi "pengen jadi Superman!"

Jiwa seperti ini bagaimana membentuknya? Butuh seorang pendidik yang ulet dan
telaten. Bersungguh-sungguh, dengan tekad yang kuat. Seorang yang sabar untuk
setiap hari menempa dengan dibekali ilmu yang kuat. Penuh dengan tawakal dan
bergantung pada Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Lalu… jika seperti ini, bisakah kita
begitu saja menitipkannya pada pembantu atau membiarkan anak tumbuh begitu
saja?? Kita sama-sama tau lingkungan kita bagaimana (TV, media, masyarakat,…)
Siapa lagi kalau bukan kita, wahai para ibu -atau calon ibu-?

Setelah kita memahami besarnya peran dan tanggung jawab seorang ibu sebagai
seorang pendidik, melihat realita yang ada sekarang sepertinya keadaannya
menyedihkan! Tidak semua memang, tapi banyak dari para ibu yang mereka sibuk
bekerja dan tidak memperhatikan bagaimana pendidikan anak mereka. Tidak
memperhatikan bagaimana aqidah mereka, apakah terkotori dengan syirik atau
tidak. Bagaimana ibadah mereka, apakah sholat mereka telah benar atau tidak,
atau bahkan malah tidak mengerjakannya… Bagaimana mungkin pekerjaan menancapkan
tauhid di dada-dada generasi muslim bisa dibandingkan dengan gaji jutaan rupiah
di perusahaan bonafit? Sungguh! sangat jauh perbandingannya.

Anehnya lagi, banyak ibu-ibu yang sebenarnya tinggal di rumah namun tidak juga
mereka memperhatikan pendidikan anaknya, bagaimana kepribadian anak mereka
dibentuk. Penulis sempat sebentar tinggal di daerah yang sebagian besar ibu-ibu
nya menetap di rumah tapi sangat acuh dengan pendidikan anak-anak mereka.
Membesarkan anak seolah hanya sekedar memberinya makan. Sedih!

Padahal anak adalah investasi bagi orang tua di dunia dan akhirat! Setiap upaya
yang kita lakukan demi mendidiknya dengan ikhlas adalah suatu kebajikan. Setiap
kebajikan akan mendapat balasan pahala dari Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Tidak
inginkah hari kita terisi dengannya? Atau memang yang kita inginkan adalah
kesuksesan karir anak kita, meraih hidup yang berkecukupan, cukup untuk membeli
rumah mewah, cukup untuk membeli mobil mentereng, cukup untuk membayar 10
pembantu, mempunyai keluarga yang bahagia, berakhir pekan di villa. Tanpa
memperhatikan bagaimana aqidah, bagaimana ibadah, asal tidak bertengkar dan bisa
senyum dan tertawa ria di rumah, disebutlah itu dengan bahagia.

Ketika usia senja, mata mulai rabun, tulang mulai rapuh, atau bahkan tubuh ini
hanya mampu berbaring dan tak bisa bangkit dari ranjang untuk sekedar berjalan.
Siapa yang mau mengurus kita kalau kita tidak pernah mendidik anak-anak kita?
Bukankah mereka sedang sibuk dengan karir mereka yang dulu pernah kita
banggakan, atau mungkin sedang asik dengan istri dan anak-anak mereka?

Ketika malaikat maut telah datang, ketika jasad telah dimasukkan ke kubur,
ketika diri sangat membutuhkan doa padahal pada hari itu diri ini sudah tidak
mampu berbuat banyak karena pintu amal telah ditutup, siapakah yang mendoakan
kita kalau kita tidak pernah mengajari anak-anak kita?

Lalu…

Masihkah kita mengatakan jabatan ibu rumah tangga dengan kata `cuma'? dengan
tertunduk dan suara lirih karena malu?

Wallahu a'lam

Maroji':

    1. Dapatkan Hak-Hakmu, Wahai Muslimah oleh Ummu Salamah as Salafiyyah. Judul
asli: Al-Intishaar li Huquuqil Mu'minaat
    2. Mendidik Anak bersama Nabi oleh Muhammad Nur Abdul Hafizh Suwaid. Judul
Asli: Manhaj At-Tarbiyyah An-Nabawiyyah lit-Thifl
    3. Majalah Al Furqon Edisi: 8 Tahun V/Rabi'ul Awwal 1427/April 2006


ps : Idealisme normatif atau realistiskah ditengah kejamnya fitnah dunia ini,
bagai buah simalakama

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-police-say-aceh-attackers-want-foreig\
ners-out/343394

November 24, 2009
Nurdin Hasan


The home of two American teachers was the scene of the latest attack on
foreigners working in Aceh. (Photo: Hotli SImanjuntak, EPA)

Indonesian Police Say Aceh Attackers Want Foreigners Out

Banda Aceh. A string of violent attacks against foreigners in Aceh are aimed at
terrorizing outsiders into leaving the region, an Aceh Police spokesman said on
Monday.

"All three attacks against foreigners this month are linked. They were conducted
by trained professionals who had planned the attacks well. The targets are
foreigners conducting humanitarian and peaceful missions in Aceh. They want to
terrorize foreigners working to heal Aceh," police spokesman Farid Ahmad Saleh
told the Jakarta Globe hours after unidentified gunmen fired six shots at the
home of two American teachers.

Monday's dawn attack comes less than a week after an attack on the home of the
European Union's local representative in Aceh. This was preceded by the shooting
of the representative of the German Red Cross earlier this month.

"They [terrorists] do not want Aceh to be safe. We will be stepping up police
patrols to safeguard foreigners working in peaceful missions across Aceh," Farid
said. "They waited for us to let our guard down, and then they attacked."

No one was injured in Monday's attack on the home of Michelle Ahmad and Sarah
Willis in a housing complex for lecturers located on the outskirts of Banda
Aceh, police and witnesses said.

"At that time Sarah and I had just woken up. We immediately hit the floor as
soon as we heard the gunshots," Ahmad told reporters, adding that they never saw
the shooter, who fled on a motorcycle after firing the shots at around 5:45 a.m.

Ahmad said that the two women rang a faculty member before calling the police.

A source at the university said both teachers are in their 20s and teach English
literature at Syiah Kuala University.

Ahmad has been teaching there for almost two years while Willis has only been in
Aceh for three months.

"The bullets never entered the home and were fired from a 20-meter range," said
one of the police investigators.

Sr. Comr. Bambang Soetjahjo, Aceh Police's director of intelligence and
security, who was at the crime scene, said the exact motive was still unknown.

"Hopefully we can solve this. We don't know about the identity of the
perpetrator or the motive," Bambang said.

Last Monday, the house of the European Union representative for Aceh, John
Penny, was fired on by two men on a motorcycle, breaking the front window of the
residence. No one was injured in the nighttime attack.

On Nov. 5, the local representative of the German branch of the Red Cross,
Erhard Baeur, 50, was shot in the abdomen and arm by two men on a motorcycle.
The victim was evacuated to Singapore for intensive medical treatment.

Following that attack, the International Red Cross briefly suspended its Aceh
operations.

Bambang said the Aceh Police had formed a special unit to hunt down the
assailants.

Several nongovernmental organizations in Aceh have expressed their concern over
the attacks, which they believe are already disrupting the shaky peace in the
province.

For years Aceh was home to a bloody guerrilla insurgency. Peace was restored in
2005 after internationally brokered peace negotiations between the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) and the central government led to greater autonomy for the
province.

Activists here say they hope that international organizations that are working
toward strengthening peace in Aceh will continue to do so, despite the recent
attacks. They have urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take greater
steps to ensure that both foreigners and the general population are more secure
from persistent low-level terror attacks.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=328115&version\
=1&template_id=45&parent_id=25


Yudhoyono steps in to defuse graft row







Anti-corruption activists chant slogans and gesture as they watch a live
television broadcast of a speech by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono in Jakarta yesterday

Indonesia's president yesterday called for corruption charges against two deputy
chairmen of the country's anti-graft commission to be dropped, citing a public
outcry over what many see as a conspiracy to weaken the body. Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono has been under public pressure to act on allegations that the charges
against the commissioners - Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah - were
trumped up after wiretapped recordings revealed an apparent plot to frame the
them.

Yudhoyono said he had earlier believed that the law should take its course but
continuing the case could trigger social unrest given the people's lack of faith
in the process.

"A better solution would be that police and prosecutors not bring this case to
the court but still take into account a sense of justice," Yudhoyono said at a
news conference.

"The legal process is not the only consideration," he said. "Public opinion,
social unity and the discrepancy between the law and justice are taken into
account." Yudhoyono was responding to findings from a presidential investigative
team which recommended that he take action against those implicated in the
alleged conspiracy and demand police and prosecutors drop the charges against
the commissioners owing to weak evidence.

Yudhoyono urged law enforcement agencies to initiate internal reforms and said
he would set up a task force to eradicate what he called "the legal mafia",
referring to the practice of bribery and other forms of corruption among police,
judges and prosecutors. The perceived scandal has raised questions about
Yudhoyono's determination to fight endemic corruption.

Calls are mounting for Yudhoyono to sack National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso
Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, whom they perceive as being
complicit in the conspiracy. A Facebook page in support of the anti-corruption
commission has attracted more than 1.3mn people.

In the recordings played in a televised court hearing this month, a senior
prosecutor, police investigators and the brother of a businessman who was the
subject of a corruption probe by the commission appeared to be discussing
scenarios to frame Riyanto and Hamzah.

One of the speakers talked about Yudhoyono's consent to the move. Some
anti-graft activists have linked the alleged conspiracy to election funding for
Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the government's much-criticized decision to
bail out a failing small bank, in which politically connected figures allegedly
stashed their fortunes.

  Yudhoyono has denied any involvement, calling the accusations slanderous. The
anti-corruption commission, set up in 2003 to fight corruption in one of the
world's most graft-prone nations with the power to arrest and prosecute, has
been widely praised by the public for a series of successful prosecutions of
high-profile offenders.

  Legislators, governors, former ministers, businessmen, one prosecutor and top
central bank officials, including an in-law of Yudhoyono, have been jailed by a
special corruption court.

  The commission's trouble began in May when its chairman, Antasari Azhar, was
arrested for allegedly orchestrating a murder. Azhar, who claims the charges
against him were trumped up, is now on trial and could face the death penalty if
convicted.
  A senior policeman on trial for his alleged involvement in the murder testified
this month that he was coerced by his superiors to implicate Azhar in the
killing. Police have denied the accusations. DPA







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

When I need you :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIHEOWhALfk&feature=related

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/another-attack-against-foreigners-in-aceh-after-\
gunmen-shoot-at-american-academics-house/343284

November 23, 2009

Another Attack Against Foreigners in Aceh After Gunmen Shoot at American
Academics' House
Gunmen fired at the home of two American academics in the Indonesian province of
Aceh on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks directed against foreigners in
the region, police said.

No one was injured in the attack on the home of Michelle Ahmad and Sarah Willis
in the provincial capital Banda Aceh at around 5:45 am, police and witnesses
said.

"I heard about six gunshots," Ahmad said.

"We woke up and sprawled on the floor. A few minutes later, I called another
friend... and we called the police."

Police intelligence chief Bambang Soetjahjo said the motive for the attack was
unknown.

He said it was not clear if it was connected to a recent spate of shootings
targeting Westerners in the province, a deeply Islamic and ethnically distinct
part of Indonesia which is recovering from a bitter separatist war.

"We don't know the motive and who did it and if it's connected to previous
incidents," Soetjahjo said.

Police said two shots hit the house's walls and one hit the roof.

The attack comes less than a week after motorcycle riding gunmen fired on the
home of the European Union's local representative, a British national, in the
deeply Islamic province.

The local representative of the German Branch of the Red Cross was also wounded
in a shooting attack earlier this month, forcing the medical relief agency to
briefly suspend its operations in Aceh.

No one has claimed responsibility for the shootings.

Agence France Presse




Related articles
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Aceh Shariah Police Chase the 'Immoral'
6:07 PM 08/11/2009

Civic Groups Call on Indonesia to Annul Aceh Stoning Bylaw
10:43 PM 05/11/2009

Protest Over Ban on Tight Pants in Aceh
10:39 PM 29/10/2009

West Aceh to Ban 'Tight' Trousers, Shorts
4:25 PM 27/10/2009


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http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=2009112355\
271


Monday, 23 November 2009  -  06 Thul-Hijjah 1430 H


Blackmailing womanizer gets 8 yrs and 700 lashes
By Khalid Al-Ruba'i



BURAIDAH - A 45-year-old Saudi man has been sentenced to eight years' prison and
700 lashes of the whip for blackmailing and threatening women after obtaining
their telephone numbers and photographs.

The convicted man, who is to appeal the sentence, obtained telephone numbers of
various women and "improper" images of them through e-mail after building
trusting relationships with them, which then used the materials to demand money
and sex, threatening to "ruin their reputations" if they failed to comply. The
man was arrested when one of his victims informed the authorities, and officials
found incriminating evidence on his mobile telephone and laptop computer. Also
found were identity papers belonging to the husband of one of his victims.

The sentence includes a SR50,000 fine and the publication of the convicted man's
photograph in a local newspaper.
The court also ruled that the lashes of the whip be carried out in public with
the man's face exposed. - Okaz/SG







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http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2157&Itemi\
d=254


State of Fear in Indonesia's Palace

       Written by Our Correspondent
       Monday, 23 November 2009
       A deepening scandal threatens President Yudhoyono

       President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in deep trouble.

       More than likely, fear pervades the palace these days. Fear that the
president's political opponents are planning a serious attack. Fear that the
media are intent on malicious rumor-mongering about unproven allegations that a
US$700 million bailout of failed Bank Century last November was used to finance
the president's political party. Fear that stern action against the police and
attorney general's office over the mess involving what appear to be fraudulent
charges against officers of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will not
solve the problem but exacerbate it.

       Such fear can result in paralysis that reinforces a public perception that
either the president is incompetent or has some hidden motive for stalling.

       One manifestation of fear is also anger. Palace insiders say that
Yudhoyono has become more emotional and thin-skinned than usual as the
intertwined scandals dominate the news. If true, he is building a wall between
himself and those who might talk straight and bring him clear-eyed advice.

       Classically, this is where palace courtiers step in, whispering that
conspiracies are afoot. These opportunists endear themselves to an embattled
president by playing on his insecurities and suspicions. They become the main
architects of a siege mentality, a common affliction for those caught in a
political maelstrom.

       It is precisely in these situations that people in power often make
critical mistakes and inadvertently become their own worst enemies.

       This is, of course, partly conjecture. I don't know precisely the
president's state of mind. But we can be fairly sure that fear and palace
intrigue prevails because there are no obvious or easy solutions to the current
complex web of scandals. It is a mess and Yudhoyono's political survival is at
stake. We have seen the rise of sycophants and the poisonous atmosphere that can
accompany a crisis before in Indonesian politics. Think of the last days of
Suharto and the disastrous consequences of that period for the nation.

       This is not to say that Yudhoyono should not be wary of his opponents.
Opposition leaders are notorious for their predatory instincts, and already we
can see them sharpening their knives inside the House of Representatives as they
prepare to investigate the Bank Century bailout. Should Yudhoyono continue to
appear weak and lose popularity as a result of the KPK debacle, there is little
doubt that one spillover effect will be a rising consensus inside the House to
use Bank Century as a tool for tightening the noose - such are the ways of
predators.

       But there is enough time to avert disaster. Public opinion, although
critical of the president, has not hardened. In general, most Indonesians still
like and trust their president. Moreover, after years of hard work to build a
stronger economy and political stability, Indonesians take pride in their
accomplishments and enjoy their rising regional status. Few would want a repeat
of 1998.



       Yudhoyono might not be perfect, but it is clear from this year's elections
that the majority of voters consider him a reasonable choice, given the
alternatives. I am sure they would prefer that Yudhoyono find an elegant
solution to this ordeal.

       What, then, can the president do to avert disaster?

       Foremost, the president must get it straight in his mind what he can and
cannot do. He is right to say that he cannot play the role of a judge or
short-circuit the legal system. He cannot force the police and attorney
general's office to follow the recommendations of Team 8, the fact-finding body
he established to ascertain the truth of who bribed whom in the squabble between
the national police and the KPK - and so far both institutions are unwilling to
succumb to public pressure.

       Yudhoyono should realize that it is nearly impossible for the current
chief of police or the attorney general to treat the KPK case in an objective
and fair manner.

       What he can do, and is allowed to do, is order the resignations of senior
officials of the police and attorney general's office. He must be seen as the
man in charge and do whatever it takes to make sure they leave. He could argue,
quite effectively I am sure, that ordering their resignations is based not on
presuming anybody's guilt or innocence, but rather is by virtue of the fact
that, given the extraordinary circumstances, none of them would be able to carry
out their duties without prejudice.

       More important, Yudhoyono should tell the nation that the problem does not
stop with the KPK imbroglio: Any future actions and decisions taken by the
existing officials could easily be questioned. In other words, regardless of who
may be right or wrong, the fact remains that unless these men are removed from
office, they risk making their institutions dysfunctional - this could ruin any
chances of legal reform.

       Second, Yudhoyono must come clean on the Bank Century story and address
allegations that there was illegal use of the bank's funds for his presidential
campaign.

       If there were no irregularities, then Yudhoyono should welcome any
investigations and order his political party to support them. On the other hand,
if he cannot conclude with confidence that there was no wrong-doing within his
inner circle, Yudhoyono must find out for himself the entire story and reveal
the truth to the public before the House of Representatives discovers anything
suggestive of deception or lies.

       Telling the truth may sound like unusual and unwise advice, but the fact
is that big lies rarely escape detection. As many politicians have learned
before, telling the truth can hurt less than lying.

       Indonesians are forgiving. And if mistakes were made, I think the public
would excuse the president if they were to learn that practically all major
political parties have, at one time or another, use public money for the purpose
of financing their campaigns. It would also be the perfect opportunity to call
for a general amnesty and demand reforms in the country's campaign finance laws.

       Yudhoyono could thus emerge from scandal to herald real reform. Given the
dire situation at the moment, a new start for everybody is probably not a bad
idea.

       James Van Zorge is a partner in Van Zorge, Heffernan & Associates, a
business strategy and government relations consulting firm based in Jakarta. He
can be reached at vanheff@... This e-mail address is being protected from
spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . This appeared in the Jakarta
Globe









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http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/noviembre/mier18/Cuba.html

       Havana.  November 18, 2009



       Cuba continuing to develop innovative biotechnology products

       Lilliam Riera

       DESPITE the global economic-financial crisis and the cruel and unjust
blockade imposed for more than 50 years by successive U.S. administrations, Cuba
is continuing to develop innovative biotechnology products to improve the
quality of life of its population and other nations.

       Dr. Gerardo Guillén Nieto, director of biomedical research at Havana's
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB) in Havana, told Granma
International that the center currently has around 70 research-development
projects centering on important medical issues such as infectious disease,
cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

       Reports from the World Health Organization indicate that 45% of deaths in
poor countries are due to infectious diseases.

       The situation in Cuba changed after 1959 and these diseases ceased to be a
health problem thanks to the epidemiological vigilance directed by the
prestigious Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), which has four
centers of cooperation with global and Pan-American health organizations,
including one dedicated to dengue and its vector.

       The most predominant health problems for Cubans are now chronic
non-transferable diseases, with an increase in the number of cases of cancer and
cardiovascular disease, among the most common causes of death in First World
countries.

       CIGB's portfolio of projects is very impressive, Dr. Guillén stated,
explaining that it contains innovative products, some which have been recently
developed and others which are still in the development process.

       Among those recently registered, he mentioned the combined Heberpenta
vaccine and Heberprot-P, an injectable solution of epidermal growth factor.

       In just one shot, Heberpenta protects infants against diphtheria, tetanus,
whopping cough, hepatitis B, and diseases caused by the bacterium Haemophilus
influenzae type B.

       CIGB, the Finlay Institute, and the Reactive Chemical Laboratory at the
University of Havana contributed to its invention.

       Second of its type in the world, this liquid vaccine has achieved the same
level of effectiveness as the one produced by the transnational GlaxoSmithKline.

       The Cuban pentavalent vaccine is part of the massive and free National
Vaccine Program that protects the infant population against 13 preventable
diseases and has allowed the country to prevent the resurgence of diseases that
have been eliminated, including polio (eradicated in 1962 - Cuba was the first
country on the continent to eradicate this disease), Neonatal tetanus (since
1972), diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, rubella, and tubercular meningitis
in children of under 12 months.

       Heberprot-P is the only product in the world that helps heal complicated
ulcers, like diabetic foot ulcers (UPD), and reduces the risk of amputation of
the inferior members of these patients, thereby increasing their quality of
life.

       There are 285 million diabetics in the world today, a figure that is
predicted to rise to 438 million in 2030, according to estimates by
international agencies.

       In Cuba, the number of diabetics could reach 624,000 by 2010, according to
Dr. Oscar Díaz Díaz, director of the National Institute of Endocrinology, on a
2007 Cuban Television "Roundtable" program on this disease and its treatment.

       However, the island has the lowest mortality rate for diabetes (12.3 per
1,000 inhabitants) of the entire American continent, as noted in a report from
the Pan-American Health Organization.

       Developed by CIGB in conjunction with the National Institute of Angiology
and Vascular Surgery, Heberprot-P was registered in Cuba in June 2006 and, in
April 2007, was included within the basic spectrum of 866 medications, 537 of
which are produced nationally.

       Available in angiology services Cuban hospitals, work is ongoing to extend
its use to the primary healthcare sector since last year," Ernesto López Mola,
CIGB head of business development, informed Granma International in an interview
in 2008.

       The medication is patented in the United States, European Union,
Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, the Russian
Federation, China, India, and Ukraine. Its use has been authorized in Venezuela
and Algeria.

       However, American citizens cannot benefit from this medicine due to the
U.S. blockade of Cuba.

       In the United States, there are almost 20 million diabetics. More than
70,000 amputations related to UPD and diabetic wounds are reported each year and
cost the health care system around $11.3 billion per annum.

       Heberpenta and Heberprot-P are the most recent acquisitions of Heber
Biotec S., an agency that exclusively markets biotechnology and pharmaceutical
products, technological services, and research-development products from CIGB
and other important Cuban laboratories and institutions to 45-plus countries in
Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

       Heber Biotec S.A. has more than 200 approved health registries in 52
countries and signed distribution agreements with companies all over the world.

       Madaisy Cueto Sánchez, the organization's promotion and publicity manager,
explained to GI that both products are marketed under the Heberfarma product
line, the pentavalent in the vaccine sector and Heberprot-P in the biological
pharmaceutical sector.

       According to data provided to GI, more than 335 million people in the
world have benefited from the vaccines that Heber Biotec S.A. exports.

       In addition to the pentavalent vaccine, the company markets Trivac HB
(against dipheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and Hepatitis B), the Heberbiovac HB
recombinant (against Hepatitis B) and the combined

       Quimi-Hib (against the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b).

       Heber Biotec S.A. and CIGB together form a complex of
research-development, production, and marketing.

       Inaugurated on July 1, 1986, CIGB is a vanguard institution in Cuban
Biosciences. The institution's principal value is in its personnel, who are
highly qualified and committed to the development of new products to improve the
quality of life of millions of people around the world, as well as other
applications for agriculture and livestock.

       It has laboratories endowed with the state-of-the-art equipment needed for
high level modern biotechnology research and has production facilities that meet
the highest international standards.

       CIGB is part of the Scientific Complex to the west of Havana established
in 1991 in order to accelerate the development of biotechnology and
medical-pharmaceutical products via the systematic coordination of research,
teaching, and specialized production among different institutions. The original
idea came from a speech given by Fidel Castro in the 1980s.

       At the recently concluded 2009 Havana Biotechnology Conference, Dr. Luis
Herrera, director of CIGB, acknowledged the role played by the leader of the
Cuban Revolution as the precursor to the country's biotechnological development.
In the 1980s, this sector received an initial government investment of more than
$1.5 billion, which allowed the undeveloped and blockaded nation to place itself
alongside the most developed countries in this field in the world.

       Of the products being developed by CIGB, Dr. Guillén emphasized
Proctokinasa, which is nothing more than the application of the Estreptoquinasa
recombinant via the rectum in the form of a suppository, which helps break up
clots. This product is the next to be registered.

       He stated that an Alpha Interferon 2b Human Recombinant gel (Hebergel),
indicated for low-grade cervical lesions, is currently in phase three of
clinical trials. In addition, HeberPAG, a combination of Gamma Interferon human
recombinant and Alpha 2b Human Recombinant, indicated for brain cancer, is
currently in the advanced stages of development.

       He noted that the therapeutic vaccine against Hepatitis C (Heberterap C)
is currently in phase 2 of clinical trials in chronic patients and added that
studies are underway for its prophylactic application.

       In relation to the therapeutic vaccine against prostate cancer
(Heberprovac) he stated that phase one of clinical trials has now concluded.
Projects currently in the preclinical research stage include a prophylactic
vaccine against the four strains of the dengue virus (Cuba is one of three
countries in the Americas where this disease is not endemic), and drugs against
diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

       Some of these projects were presented by Cuba at the 2009 Havana
Biotechnology Conference, dedicated this year to medical applications in that
branch of knowledge. Prominent researchers, including the 2008 Nobel Prize
Winner in Physiology and Medicine Harald zur Hausen, and 1988 Nobel Prize Winner
in Chemistry Robert Huber, attended the event.

       During the conference, close to 500 specialists from more than 30
countries were informed about Cuban biotechnology products, which contribute to
the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of 26 diseases.

       In 2007, Cuban pharmaceutical and biotechnology products were the
country's second highest export item, only exceeded by nickel. The income
generated from the sale of pharmaceuticals was valued at $350 million.

       The prestigious British scientific magazine Nature described the Cuban
biotechnology industry as the best established in the Third World. This is not
by chance.









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http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/noviembre/vier20/vaccine-against-pneumococcus.h\
tml

        Havana.  November  20, 2009



       Cuba to begin initiate clinical trials of vaccine against pneumococcus

       Iris de Armas Padrino and Anneris Ivette Leiva

       CONCEPCION Campa, member of the Political Bureau and director of the
Finlay Institute, announced yesterday that Cuba is to begin the first clinical
trial of the vaccine against pneumococcus next year.

       In a roundtable on advances in Cuban biotechnology at the Global Heath
Investigation Forum, currently taking place in Havana, Dr. Campa stated that the
combined heptavalent vaccine is being developed by that institution and the
Center of Biomolecular Chemistry.

       Literature on the subject suggests that pneumococcus is an almost
exclusively human pathogen that causes various infections (pneumonia, sinusitis,
and peritonitis, among others) and severe invasive processes, like meningitis
and septicemia, particularly in the elderly, children, and the
immunocompromised.

       Campa highlighted that they have received pre-approval from the World
Health Organization for placing these immunogens at the service of Cuba and also
other nations.

       She reiterated the impact on national public health of the 10-plus
vaccines produced over the last 20 years, which have resulted in a decrease of
infant mortality figures.

       During the event, Gill Samuels, president of the Council of the Global
Forum Foundation, praised Cuba's emphasis on both healthcare and education.



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Hari kedelapan Dzul-Hijjah
Hari ini disebut hari Tarwiyah, hari yang sangat mulia. Pada hari ini
disunnahkan berpuasa dan mandi sunnah. Puasa di sini memiliki banyak keutamaan,
antara lain seperti yang disebutkan dalam suatu hadis untuk menghapus dosa-dosa
selama 60 tahun.

Malam Kesembilan
Malam kesembilan disebut malam Arafah, malam yang penuh berkah. Malam untuk
bermunajat dan memohon hajat kepada Allah swt. Karena malam ini adalah
tercapainya hajat, malam diterimanya taubat, dan malam diperkenankannya doa.

Dalam suatu riwayat disebutkan :  "Barangsiapa yang melakukan amalan untuk
ketaatan kepada Allah swt di malam ini, maka nilainya sama dengan beribadah
seratus tujuh puluh tahun."   Pada malam ini banyak amalan, antara lain:

Pertama: Membaca Doa Malam Arafah
Dalam suatu hadis disebutkan: "Orang yang membaca Doa Malam Arafah  pada malam
Arafah atau pada malam hari-hari yang sepuluh,  Allah akan mengampuni
dosa-dosanya."

Kedua: Membaca tasbih sebanyak 1000 kali, tasbih yang dibaca pada hari Arafah.

Hari Arafah
Hari ini adalah hari Allah memanggil hamba-hamba-Nya untuk beribadah kepada-Nya.
Pada hari ini Allah meluaskan bagi mereka kebaikan dan kedermawanan-Nya.
Sementara setan berada dalam keadaan terhina, marah dan tersingkir dibanding
hari-hari yang lain.

Ada suatu kisah dari Imam Zainal Abidin (sa): Pada hari Arafah beliau mendengar
seorang pengemis meminta-minta kepada manusia.  Lalu beliau berkata kepadanya:
"Celakalah kamu, mengapa kamu meminta kepada selain Allah pada hari ini,
sementara hari ini adalah hari bermunajat kepada Allah untuk mendapatkan
perlindungan dalam rahmat-Nya agar karunia-Nya meliputinya, sehingga kamu
berbahagia."
(Mafatihul Jinan, bab 2: 253)

Pada hari Arafah terdapat banyak amalan, selengkapnya klik di sini:
http://www.alfusalam.web.id

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTkyODY5NzQ=

Is imam a terror recruiter or just an incendiary preacher?


Published Date: November 22, 2009

CAIRO: The Yemeni-American imam who's been under renewed scrutiny after the
deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, preaches against alcohol, birthday
parties, black magic and extramarital sex. He also supports armed struggle -
jihad - against the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has encouraged
extremist insurgents in Pakistan and Somalia. None of that sets Anwar Al-Awlaki,
38, apart from other militant Sunni Muslim clerics and even many mainstream ones
- in the Middle East. Al-Awlaki uses digital me
ans to spread his views, however, through a blog, lectures on YouTube and
Facebook pages with more than 1,000 fans.

American-born and popular with young Westernized Muslims, al-Awlaki preaches
mainly in English and drops pop-culture references, invoking Michael Jackson in
a sermon on death or the parable of a marijuana-smoking Muslim who turned his
life around. Al-Awlaki's teachings, however, also reportedly have inspired
suspects in a number of high-profile international cases: two of the Sept 11
hijackers, alleged militants accused of planning to blow up targets in Toronto,
several Somali-American youths who died whil
e fighting in Mogadishu and, most recently, the Muslim Army major who's charged
with killing 13 people in the Fort Hood rampage Nov 5.

In the past year, US investigators say, al-Awlaki corresponded several times
with Maj Nidal Malik Hasan. The investigators deemed the exchanges benign,
consistent with research Hasan was conducting on Muslims in the military.
Al-Awlaki himself, purportedly speaking through an intermediary to The
Washington Post, said last week that he'd answered only a couple of the dozen or
so e-mails Hassan sent him.

Al-Awlaki was under FBI investigation after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, but
concerns surrounding him today appear to be based, at least publicly, more on
his incendiary sermons than on solid evidence establishing a link to militant
groups. Despite several brushes with terrorism suspects - allegedly by phone,
email and in US mosques - Al-Awlaki hasn't been charged with a terrorism-related
crime and the only time he's apparently spent in jail was in Yemen in connection
with a tribal dispute, according to new
s and court accounts.

Middle Eastern analysts cautioned against treating Al-Awlaki as a senior
terrorism suspect when so little is known about his links to violent extremist
groups. Targeting him also could backfire and increase his popularity among
young Muslims worldwide, the analysts warned. Fans already have set up Web pages
supporting him, with comments sections full of anti-American rhetoric. "The
American position is flexible and changes a lot. During most of his life, Yasser
Arafat was considered a terrorist, but then h
e received the Nobel Peace Prize," said Fahmi Howeidy, a prominent Egyptian
Islamist writer with a column in a Cairo newspaper.

It's the same with that guy, Al-Awlaki; they've created a demon out of him." An
independent Yemeni political analyst, who spoke only on the condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said the suspicions about
Al-Awlaki came from his hard-line beliefs, which were no different from those of
other imams in the Middle East, where "praising jihad is prevalent in Saudi
Arabia, Egypt and many Arab nations.

Coverage in the Western news media is "exaggerating and magnifying" the threat
that Al-Awlaki poses, he said. "This imam is a product of the Salafist Wahhabi"
or ultraconservative - "thought that managed to drive scores of youths to
Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union in the '70s, and which is still nestled in
many parts of the Middle East," the analyst said. "The difference here is that
he gave these sermons in the US, where it's unheard of, while in the Arab world
it's the norm.

Al-Awlaki's militant message and wide audience made him a subject of interest
for US intelligence agencies nearly a decade before the Fort Hood shootings.
Back then, Al-Awlaki wasn't hard to find. He served as imam to 3,000 Muslims at
a mosque in suburban Virginia, held an online chat on The Washington Post's Web
site in which he answered questions about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and
granted several news interviews.

In a report just after Sept 11, The New York Times held up Al-Awlaki as an
example of a "new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West."
The FBI, however, was investigating Al-Awlaki's activities and connections. The
cleric moved to Yemen in 2002, presumably to be out of reach of US authorities.
It's unclear whether FBI agents turned up much of concern in their
investigations of Al-Awlaki. Suspicions about him in government reports are
padded with qualifying terms.

Two of the Sept 11 hijackers "reportedly respected Awlaki as a religious
figure," the Sept 11 Commission concluded. Al-Awlaki's encounters with a suspect
in San Diego "may not have been coincidental," wrote investigators for the
congressional joint inquiry on Sept 11. FBI officials were quoted as saying that
al-Awlaki was an important recruiter for Al-Qaeda and had been contacted by an
associate of Osama bin Laden, though no evidence was provided and US authorities
haven't charged Al-Awlaki with any crime.


He's a 9/11 loose end," Sept 11 Commission Executive Director Philip Zelikow
told McClatchy Newspapers. Zelikow added that one of his frustrations with the
Sept 11 investigation was its inability to determine what Al-Awlaki's
relationship was to the hijackers who turned up at Al-Awlaki's mosques in San
Diego and then again in Falls Church, Va. Commission investigators traveled to
Yemen in 2004 but were unable to interview al-Awlaki, though precisely why was
unclear.

US Rep Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House
Intelligence Committee, told CBS last week that the government isn't giving
Congress full details of the investigation into Al-Awlaki's connection to the
Fort Hood shooting suspect. "The Yemeni cleric has been on our radar since 2001
and 2002. We had evidence in 2002. Why didn't we prosecute him?" Hoekstra asked.
"I want to know who al-Awlaki is talking to in the US," Hoekstra added.

In Yemen, al-Awlaki's activism again drew interest. He took a teaching position
at a university led by a cleric who was put on the US terrorism watch list in
2004. Yemeni authorities detained Al-Awlaki for a year and a half over his
arbitration of a tribal dispute, but he said in interviews after he was released
that the United States had orchestrated the arrest and that FBI agents had
questioned him about the Sept 11 attacks and other topics while he was behind
bars.

Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert and doctoral candidate at Princeton University,
noted on his Yemen-focused blog Waq-Al-Waq that Al-Awlaki's name had showed up
on a list of 100 prisoners whose release was sought by Al Qaeda-linked militants
in Yemen. Johnsen also wrote that Al-Awlaki had praised Al-Qaeda on his website
after a clash between militants and Yemeni security forces in July. Still,
Johnsen played down Al-Awlaki's possible threat and described him as "more a
product of the US than he is of Yemen.


In my opinion, he is not a major player within the Yemeni arena, but rather
someone who uses his Yemeni background to bolster his credentials for
non-Arabic-speaking Muslims, primarily in the US, Canada and Europe," Johnsen
wrote in a Nov 9 posting. Al-Awlaki was released from the Yemeni jail in 2007.
He went underground in recent weeks, with his blog disabled and Yemeni
authorities looking for him, according to Yemeni news reports.- MCT



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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KK24Ad01.html

Nov 24, 2009

Power struggle behind revival of Maoism
By Willy Lam


As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership tries to convince United States
President Barack Obama and other world leaders that China is eagerly integrating
itself with the global marketplace, the ultra-conservative norms and worldview
of Chairman Mao Zedong are making a big comeback in public life.

In provinces and cities that foreign dignitaries are unlikely to visit, vintage
Cultural Revolution-era (1966-1976) totems are proliferating. In Chongqing, a
mega-city of 32 million people in western China, Mao sculptures - which were
feverishly demolished soon after the late patriarch Deng Xiaoping catalyzed the
reform era in 1978 - are being erected throughout government offices, factories
and universities.

A newly constructed seven-story statue of the demigod in Chongqing's college
district dwarfed nearby halls, libraries and classroom buildings. Not far from
the Helmsman's birthplace in Juzhizhou village, Hunan province, the latest
tourist attraction is a sky-scraping, 32-meter torso of the young Mao. Moreover,
the long-forgotten slogan "Long Live Mao Zedong Thought" has been resuscitated
after banners bearing this battle cry were held high by college students and
nationalistic Beijing residents during parades in Tiananmen Square that marked
the 60th birthday of the People's Republic.

There are at least three dimensions to Maoism's resurgence in China. One is
simply a celebration of national pride. Given the fact that the Helmsman's
successors ranging from Deng Xiaoping to President Hu Jintao have imposed a
blackout on public discussion about the great famine and other atrocities of the
Mao era, most Chinese remember Mao as the larger-than-life founder of the
republic and the "pride of the Chinese race".

The contributions of Mao were played up in this year's blockbuster movie Lofty
Ambitions of Founding a Republic, which was specially commissioned by party
authorities. Thus, Central Party School theorist Li Junru, who gained fame for
his exposition of Deng's reform programs, recently characterized Mao as a titan
who "led the Chinese people in their struggle against the reactionary rule of
imperialism and feudalism, so that the Chinese race [could] stand tall among the
people of the world".

Moreover, according to a conservative theoretician, Peng Xiaoguang, the enduring
enthusiasm for "Mao Zedong Thought" - particularly among the young - testified
to the intelligentsia's search for an "ultimate faith" that could speed up
China's rise, particularly in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The other two dimensions of the Maoist revival portend struggles and changes
within the CCP; it is emblematic of the CCP's shift to the left, as well as the
intensification of political infighting among the party's disparate factions (in
China, "leftism" denotes doctrinaire socialist values, emphasis on the party's
monopoly on power, and a move away from the free-market precepts).

It is well known that since the Tibet riots in March 2008, the CCP leadership
has tightened the noose around the nation's dissidents as well as activists of
non-governmental agencies. Yet in the wake of the international financial
meltdown, economic policy has also displayed anti-market tendencies, if not also
a re-assumption of values such as state guidance of the economy, which were
observed during the long reign of the revered chairman.

This is evidenced by the phenomenon called guojin mintui, or state-controlled
enterprises advancing at the expense of the private sector. In areas ranging
from coal and steel to transportation, state-controlled firms are swallowing up
private companies. Moreover, government-run outfits are the major beneficiaries
of the $585 million stimulus package announced late last year, as well as the
$1.1 trillion worth of loans extended by Chinese banks in the first three
quarters of the year.

Even more significant is the fact that a number of party cadres are invoking
Maoist values including radical egalitarianism when formulating public policies.
While Mao was said to have ushered in the new China by pulling down the "three
big mountains" of feudalism, bureaucratic capitalism and imperialism, his
latter-day followers are engaged in an equally epic struggle against the "three
new mountains", a reference to runaway prices in the medical, education and
housing sectors.

Nowhere is this ethos more pronounced than in Chongqing, whose leadership has
vowed to develop so-called "red GDP". This is a codeword for economic
development that is geared toward the needs of the masses - and not dictated by
the greed of privileged classes such as the country's estimated 30 million
millionaires.

For example, while real estate prices in cities ranging from Shanghai and
Shenzhen are sharply increasing, Chongqing cadres have pledged to ensure that at
least one-third of all apartments in the metropolis are affordable to workers
and farmers. The Chongqing party secretary, Bo Xilai, has indicated that the key
to the CCP maintaining its perennial ruling-party status is "whether it is
tightly linked with the people and the masses". "Chairman Mao put it best: we
must serve the people with all our hearts and minds," Bo noted. "The party will
become impregnable if cadres from top to bottom are tightly bonded with the
masses."

As with most political trends in China, the resuscitation of Maoist norms is
related to factional intrigue. Jockeying for position between two major CCP
cliques - the so-called Gang of Princelings and the Communist Youth League (CYL)
Faction - has intensified in the run-up to the 18th CCP Congress. At this
critical conclave slated for 2012, the fourth-generation leadership under
President Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao is due to yield power to the fifth
generation, or cadres born in the 1950s.

Bo and Vice President Xi Jinping, two prominent politburo members who also
happen to be "princelings", or the offspring of party elders, are among the most
high-profile architects of the Maoist revival. Implicit in the princelings'
re-hoisting of the Maoist flag is a veiled critique of the policies undertaken
by Hu and his CYL faction, which have exacerbated the polarization of rich and
poor and even led to the betrayal of socialist China's spiritual heirlooms.

Bo is the son of party elder Bo Yibo, who was dubbed one of the CCP's "eight
immortals". As former minister of commerce and governor of the northeastern
Liaoning province, Bo was often praised by multinational executives for his
generally progressive views on globalization. Yet after moving to Chongqing in
late 2007, the charismatic regional "warlord" has launched numerous campaigns to
popularize Maoist quotations, doctrines and even Cultural Revolution-style
"revolutionary operas".

In less than two years, Bo cited the Helmsman's instructions in at least 30
public speeches. The 60-year-old princeling has also asked his assistants to
text message sayings by Mao to the city's netizens. Bo's favorite Mao quotations
include: "The world is ours; we must all take part in running [public] affairs";
"Human beings need to have [a revolutionary] spirit"; "The world belongs to
young people. They are like the sun at eight or nine in the morning"; and "Once
the political line has been settled, [the quality of] cadres is the deciding
factor".

Vice President Xi Jinping, the son of the late vice premier Xi Zhongxun, is also
a keen follower of the Great Helmsman. The 56-year-old Xi, who doubles as
president of the Central Party School, likes to sprinkle his homilies to
students of the elite cadre-training institution with Mao's words of wisdom.

Xi's repeated emphasis on grooming neophytes who are "both politically upright
and professionally competent" echoes Mao's dictum on picking officials who are
"both red and expert". While talking about "party construction", or ways to
ensure the ideological purity of CCP cells, Xi noted that the leadership must
learn from the "great party-construction engineering project that was
successfully pioneered by the first-generation leadership with comrade Mao
Zedong as its core".

When he is touring the provinces, Xi likes to celebrate "proletariat paragons"
first lionized by Mao. While inspecting the Daqing oilfield in Heilongjiang
province last September, the vice president eulogized the "spirit of the Iron
Man of Daqing", a reference to the well-nigh super-human exploits of Wang Jinxi,
the legendary oilfield worker. Xi has also heaped praise on "heroes of the
masses", such as the self-sacrificing fireman, Lei Feng, and the altruistic
county party secretary, Jiao Yulu.

It is easy to see why princelings should take full advantage of their
illustrious lineage. As the famous Chinese proverb goes: "He who has won heaven
and earth has the right to be their rulers." This was the basis of the
"revolutionary legitimacy" of the first- and second-generation leadership under
Mao and Deng respectively.

As the sons and daughters of Long March veterans, princelings regard their
"revolutionary bloodline" as a prime political resource. Thus, while visiting
the "revolutionary Mecca" of Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province last year, Xi paid
homage to the "countless martyrs of the revolution who used their blood and
lives to win over this country". "They laid a strong foundation for the good
livelihood [we are enjoying]," he said. "Under no circumstances can we forsake
this tradition."

Similarly, while marking the October 1 National Day last year, Bo urged
Chongqing's cadres "to forever bear in mind the ideals and hot-blooded
[devotion] of our elders". "Forsaking [their revolutionary tradition] is
tantamount to betrayal," Bo instructed.

By contrast, affiliates of President Hu's CYL faction - most of whom are career
party apparatchiks from relatively humble backgrounds - cannot aspire to the
kind of halo effect that the likes of Bo or Xi appear to have inherited from
their renowned forebears.

Even as China's global prestige has been substantially enhanced by its "economic
miracle", party authorities have repeatedly called on all members to ju'an
siwei, that is, to "be wary of risks and emergencies at a time of stability and
plenty". In addition, princelings, who are deemed to have benefited from the
revolutionary - and politically correct - genes of the Long March generation,
seem to be the safest choices to shepherd the party and country down the road of
Chinese-style socialism under new historical circumstances.

Moreover, while the Hu-Wen team has staked its reputation on goals such as
"putting people first" and extending the social security net to the great
majority of Chinese, it cannot be denied that negative phenomena such as social
injustice and exploitation of disadvantaged classes have increased since the
turn of the century.

The reinvigoration of Maoist standards, then, could prove to be the biggest
challenge to unity within the Hu-Wen administration. Steering the ship of state
to the left might temporarily enable the Hu leadership to garner the support of
advocates of 1950s-style egalitarianism - and blunt the putsch for power
spearheaded by Bo, Xi and other princelings. Yet, turning back the clock could
deal a body blow to economic as well as political reform - and render China less
qualified than ever for a place at the head table of the global community.

Dr Willy Wo-Lap Lam is a senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation. He has
worked in senior editorial positions in international media including Asiaweek
newsmagazine, South China Morning Post, and the Asia-Pacific Headquarters of
CNN. He is the author of five books on China, including the recently published
Chinese Politics in the Hu Jintao Era: New Leaders, New Challenges. Lam is an
adjunct professor of China studies at Akita International University, Japan, and
at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

(This article first appeared in The Jamestown Foundation. Used with permission

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http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009&dt=1124&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=\
Politik&pg=po_03.htm

Pas Kelantan tidak lagi perjuangkan Islam?

KOTA BHARU 23 Nov. - Pemuda UMNO Kelantan menyifatkan Pas negeri tidak lagi
memperjuangkan Islam seperti yang dilaung-laungkan sebelum ini tetapi lebih
sibuk membahagikan 'harta perang'.

Ketuanya, Anuar Safian berkata, pemimpin parti terbabit pada masa kini
menjadikan kuasa yang dimiliki mereka untuk mengumpul aset dan keuntungan
sehingga mengabaikan rakyat.

Beliau berkata, oleh kerana kegiatan itu tidak lagi dapat dibendung dan semakin
merebak, kepimpinan Pas Kelantan dipercayai telah berpecah sehingga wujud
sekurang-kurangnya tiga kumpulan.

"Kesemua kumpulan ini sedang sibuk mengaut keuntungan dari kerajaan negeri ini
sehingga melupakan dasar perjuangan mereka iaitu Islam.

"Mereka telah lupa semua perjuangan sebelum ini kerana terlalu lama berkuasa dan
disebabkan itu mereka mengagihkan hasil negeri ini seperti balak seperti
membahagikan 'harta perang'," katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas kemelut dalaman Pas Kelantan bermula dari pendedahan masalah
yang berlaku dalam Perbadanan Menteri Besar Kelantan (PMBK) yang diterajui
menantu Menteri Besar, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Ir. Abdul Ariffahmi Ab. Rahman.

Pada masa yang sama juga, Nik Abdul Aziz mengakui menerima tajaan haji sebanyak
RM65,000 daripada individu tertentu.



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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\11\23\story_23-11-2009_pg3_4

PURPLE PATCH: The working class in England -Frederick Engels



  As in life, so in death. The poor are dumped into the earth like infected
cattle. The pauper burial-ground of St. Brides, London, is a bare morass, in use
as a cemetery since the time of Charles II, and filled with heaps of bones;
every Wednesday the paupers are thrown into a ditch fourteen feet deep; a curate
rattles through the Litany at the top of his speed; the ditch is loosely covered
in, to be re-opened the next Wednesday, and filled with corpses as long as one
more can be forced in. The putrefaction thus engendered contaminates the whole
neighbourhood. In Manchester, the pauper burial-ground lies opposite to the Old
Town, along the Irk: this, too, is a rough, desolate place. About two years ago
a railroad was carried through it. If it had been a respectable cemetery, how
the bourgeoisie and the clergy would have shrieked over the desecration! But it
was a pauper burial-ground, the resting-place of the outcast and superfluous, so
no one concerned himself about the matter. It was not even thought worth while
to convey the partially decayed bodies to the other side of the cemetery; they
were heaped up just as it happened, and piles were driven into newly-made
graves, so that the water oozed out of the swampy ground, pregnant with
putrefying matter, and filled the neighbourhood with the most revolting and
injurious gases. The disgusting brutality which accompanied this work I cannot
describe in further detail.

Can any one wonder that the poor decline to accept public relief under these
conditions? That they starve rather than enter these bastilles? I have the
reports of five cases in which persons actually starving, when the guardians
refused them outdoor relief, went back to their miserable homes and died of
starvation rather than enter these hells. Thus far have the Poor Law
Commissioners attained their object. At the same time, however, the workhouses
have intensified, more than any other measure of the party in power, the hatred
of the working-class against the property-holders, who very generally admire the
New Poor Law.

From Newcastle to Dover, there is but one voice among the workers - the voice of
hatred against the new law. The bourgeoisie has formulated so clearly in this
law its conception of its duties towards the proletariat, that it has been
appreciated even by the dullest. So frankly, so boldly had the conception never
yet been formulated, that the non-possessing class exists solely for the purpose
of being exploited, and of starving when the property-holders can no longer make
use of it. Hence it is that this new Poor Law has contributed so greatly to
accelerate the labour movement, and especially to spread Chartism; and, as it is
carried out most extensively in the country, it facilitates the development of
the proletarian movement which is arising in the agricultural districts. Let me
add that a similar law in force in Ireland since 1838, affords a similar refuge
for eighty thousand paupers. Here, too, it has made itself disliked, and would
have been intensely hated if it had attained anything like the same importance
as in England. But what difference does the ill-treatment of eighty thousand
proletarians make in a country in which there are two and a half millions of
them? In Scotland there are, with local exceptions, no Poor Laws.

I hope that after this picture of the New Poor Law and its results, no word
which I have said of the English bourgeoisie will be thought too stern. In this
public measure, in which it acts in corpore as the ruling power, it formulates
its real intentions, reveals the animus of those smaller transactions with the
proletariat, of which the blame apparently attaches to individuals. And that
this measure did not originate with any one section of the bourgeoisie, but
enjoys the approval of the whole class, is proved by the Parliamentary debates
of 1844. The Liberal party had enacted the New Poor Law; the Conservative party,
with its Prime Minister Peel at the head, defends it, and only alters some
petty-fogging trifles in the Poor Law Amendment Bill of 1844. A Liberal majority
carried the bill, a Conservative majority approved it, and the "Noble Lords"
gave their consent each time. Thus is the expulsion of the proletariat from
State and society outspoken, thus is it publicly proclaimed that proletarians
are not human beings, and do not deserve to be treated as such. Let us leave it
to the proletarians of the British Empire to re-conquer their human rights.

Such is the state of the British working-class as I have come to know it in the
course of twenty-one months, through the medium of my own eyes, and through
official and other trustworthy reports. And when I call this condition, as I
have frequently enough done in the foregoing pages, an utterly unbearable one, I
am not alone in so doing. As early as 1833, Gaskell declared that he despaired
of a peaceful issue, and that a revolution can hardly fail to follow. In 1838,
Carlyle explained Chartism and the revolutionary activity of the working-men as
arising out of the misery in which they live, and only wondered that they have
sat so quietly eight long years at the Barmecide feast, at which they have been
regaled by the Liberal bourgeoisie with empty promises. And in 1844 he declared
that the work of organising labour must be begun at once "if Europe or at least
England, is long to remain inhabitable". And the Times, the "first journal of
Europe", said in June, 1844: "War to palaces, peace unto cabins - that is a
battle-cry of terror which may come to resound throughout our country. Let the
wealthy beware!"

Friedrich Engels was a German social scientist, author, political theorist,
philosopher, and father of communist theory, alongside Karl Marx. Together they
produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848. Engels also edited the second and
third volumes of Das Kapital after Marx's death


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http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-u\
s-involved-in-secret-talks-with-senior-taliban--il--06


US involved in secret talks with senior Taliban
DawnNews Report
Monday, 23 Nov, 2009


ISLAMABAD: The Obama administration may be close to reversing course on its
current strategy in Afghanistan, after DawnNews quoted sources as saying that
high-level talks with senior Taliban militants are currently underway.



The indirect talks involve officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Britain, and
top Afghan Taliban leadership, including the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Chief and
Abdullah Anus, among others.



Sources told DawnNews that Anus is the son in law of Abdullah Azzam, a noted
terrorist and former mentor of Osama bin Laden, who was killed along with his
sons in Peshawar in 1989.



In addition, Abu Al Hasan Madani, one of the key leaders of
Rabta-e-Alam-e-Islami, has also been engaged in the process, as has Abu Jud
Mehmood Samrai, an Iraqi who also holds Pakistan nationality and who played a
very important role in the Afghan war.



The first round of talks have concluded, and a second, face-to-face meeting is
likely after Eid.- DawnNews


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/belgian-man-rescued-from-a-23year-coma-20091123-i\
xhh.html


Belgian man rescued from a 23-year 'coma'
ALLAN HALL, BERLIN

November 24, 2009
A BELGIAN man diagnosed as being in a coma for 23 years was actually conscious
the whole time.

Rom Houben was simply paralysed, but had no way to let doctors caring for him
know what he was suffering.

''I dreamt myself away,'' says Mr Houben, now 46, who was misdiagnosed as being
in a persistent vegetative state after a car crash.

Doctors and nurses in Zolder, about 80 kilometres from Brussels, deemed him a
hopeless case, with his consciousness ''extinct''.

The former martial arts enthusiast and engineering student was paralysed after a
car crash in 1983. He was finally correctly diagnosed three years ago and his
case has just come to light in a scientific paper released by the man who
''saved'' him.

Doctors treating him regularly examined him using the worldwide Glasgow Coma
Scale, which judges a patient according to eye, verbal and motor responses.

During every examination he was graded incorrectly, so he suffered in silence,
unable to communicate that he was awake and aware to his parents, his carers or
friends who came to his bedside.

Only through the re-evaluation of his case at the University of Liege did it
come to light that Mr Houben was only paralysed all these years.

High-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost normally.

Therapy has now enabled him to tap out messages on a computer screen and he has
a special device above his bed enabling him to read books while lying down.

When he woke after the accident, he had lost control of his body.

''I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,'' he says.

''I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak
with me until they gave up all hope.

''I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me
- it was my second birth. All that time I just literally dreamed of a better
life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt.''

Neurologist Steven Laureys, who led the re-examination of Mr Houben, published a
study two months ago claiming ''vegetative state'' patients were often
misdiagnosed.

''Anyone who bears the stamp of 'unconscious' just one time hardly ever gets rid
of it again,'' he said.

Dr Laureys, who leads the Coma Science Group at Liege University Hospital,
discovered how Mr Houben's brain was still working using state-of-the-art
imaging. He intends to use the case to highlight what he considers may be many
more similar examples of misdiagnosis around the world.

''I want to read books, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life
now,'' said Mr Houben, who remains in constant care.


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Refleksi :  Seandainya SBY ini jatuh terpelanting dari kursi kekuasaan yang baru
saja diduduki, maka rezim  siapapun atau apapun setelah SBY, agaknya tidak akan
bisa memperbaiki mutu tingkat kehidupan  rakyat mayoritas dari buruk menjadi
baik dan lebih baik lagi, karena mereka berasal dari linkungan yang sama dan
tujuannya pun tidak akan berbeda dari yang terdahulu.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/yudhoyono-to-address-the-nation-as-corruption-scanda\
ls-spread-20091123-j0j5.html



Yudhoyono to address the nation as corruption scandals spread
TOM ALLARD HERALD CORRESPONDENT
November 24, 2009
JAKARTA: Indonesia's Vice-President, Boediono, is under intense pressure over
his role in the $720 million bail-out of a bank linked to donors who supported
the election campaign of his running mate, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The fall-out from the rescue of Bank Century last year is one of a series of
corruption scandals buffeting Dr Yudhoyono, who was due late last night to
address the nation on the graft crisis.

A report released yesterday by Indonesia's Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found the
country's central bank - headed by Boediono at the time - provided incomplete
and inaccurate information as it rammed through the financial rescue of Bank
Century.

''Bank Indonesia's announcement that Bank Century was in trouble and needed a
bail-out was not supported by accurate and updated data,'' BPK's chairman, Hadi
Purnomo, said.

''As a result, they disbursed up to 6.7 trillion rupiah [$720 million], far
higher than the 632 billion rupiah [$70 million] previously estimated [needed]
to save Bank Century.''

The bank was too small to be a systemic risk to the Indonesian financial system
and almost half of the money was disbursed illegally, the BPK found. More than
80 per cent of the funds went to replenish bankers, shareholders and other
related parties who had lost money due to ''illegal practices and violations of
regulations''.

The public version of the report from the agency did not reveal who benefited
from the disbursements.

Among the beneficiaries of the bail-out were Indonesia's elite, including the
treasurer of Dr Yudhoyono's re-election campaign and other big donors.

There are widespread calls for a more detailed inquiry into the affair and Dr
Yudhoyono indicated on Sunday night he was prepared to support one after months
of resisting.

In an address to the nation scheduled for late last night, Dr Yudhoyono was
expected to call for police and prosecutors to drop the pursuit of two senior
members of the country's independent Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK.

Strong evidence has emerged through wiretaps that the pursuit of the two KPK
deputies was a high-level conspiracy by law enforcement leaders angered at a KPK
probe into their rampant bribe-taking, including in the Bank Century case.

Dr Yudhoyono will then demand ''corrective measures'' to weed out corrupt
members of the police, the Attorney-General's department, and the KPK.

Susno Duadji, the chief of police detectives implicated in the wiretaps, will be
removed but the chief of police will stay.










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http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-president-calls-for-corruption-case-t\
o-be-dropped/343440

November 24, 2009
Nivell Rayda & Heru Andriyanto


Suspended Corruption Eradication Commission deputy Chandra M Hamzah, right,
warily watching President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's nationally televised speech
at the commission's office in Jakarta. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)



Indonesian President Calls for Corruption Case to Be Dropped


President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday publicly outlined a face-saving
solution to the months-long scandal engulfing the country's law enforcement
agencies, saying he believed the best option was for the case against two
antigraft leaders not to be taken to court.

In a statement broadcast nationwide, Yudhoyono said that as head of state it was
not within his authority to halt the National Police's investigation into or the
Attorney General's Office's prosecution of the case.

He was referring to the case against Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)
deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah, whom the police suspect of
extortion and abuse of power. The case came under intense public scrutiny after
the Constitutional Court played back recordings of telephone conversations,
wiretapped by the KPK, that appeared to show efforts to fabricate charges
against the pair.

"The other better solution and option that can be taken by the police and
prosecutors is to not take this case to court, while continuing to abide by the
principle of justice," Yudhoyono said.

It is a week since the president received a recommendation, from a team he had
set up to look into the case, that the police and prosecutors drop the charges
against the two deputies. His comments echoed those he made on Sunday at a
gathering of media editors.

Yudhoyono did not elaborate on how the police could halt their investigation or
the Attorney General's Office drop the case.

His comments were seen by some as deliberately vague, but are likely to be
understood within the law enforcement agencies as tantamount to an order for the
case to be halted.

Minutes after the speech, Marwan Effendy, the deputy attorney general for
special crimes, said his institution "understands the president instructed an
out-of-court settlement, and let us decide how to do this."

He said that the better of the two options presented would be to use the AGO's
right to declare a case unworthy of trial.

"We will first declare that the case is complete, that we have evidence against
the suspects, but the case was just not worth trying," he said. "We will
instruct the district office to drop the case."

But National Police deputy spokesman Sulistyo Ishak said: "We will first study
the president's order. It will be followed up. But as to what the next action
will be, just wait and see."

He would not comment further, but a senior police official, who declined to be
named, told the Jakarta Globe the only legal avenue for the police was to freeze
the case. "We would neither stop nor process" the cases, the source said.

In his statement, Yudhoyono said he had initially believed that it was best for
Bibit and Chandra to face trial, "on condition that the investigation and the
prosecution process got strong public support and, of course, that these
processes be fair, objective and based on strong evidence."

However, what developed was instead a strong public distrust of the police and
prosecutors, he said, adding that therefore other factors had to be taken into
account, citing public opinion, social cohesion and the likelihood of a gap
between the law and justice.

Taufik Basari, the lawyer for Bibit and Chandra, said the president's remarks
needed further examination and explanation.

"We still don't understand what [Yudhoyono's] decisions are. There is still
nothing that we can hold on to," he said.

"I sense that he wants the case to stop but to leave it to the police or the AGO
to determine the exact mechanisms for how the case should be dropped."

Additional reporting by Camelia Pasandaran & Farouk Arnaz




Related articles
Whatever You Call Them, Indonesia's Case Brokers Under Fire
12:44 AM 23/11/2009

Lacking Evidence, Police Invite KPK to Probe Anggodo
11:36 PM 20/11/2009

My Jakarta: Mohammed Fauzi, Antigraft Activist
7:33 PM 19/11/2009

Few Sparks, But Still No Consensus on KPK as Indonesia Lawmakers Meet
1:36 AM 19/11/2009

Ary Muladi Seeks Protection in Indonesia Antigraft Scandal
11:05 PM 16/11/2009








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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/refugees-pay-40000-to-come-by-plane/\
story-e6frg6nf-1225802705191


Refugees pay $40,000 to come by plane
   a.. Sally Neighbour
   b.. From: The Australian
   c.. November 24, 2009 12:00AM

ASYLUM-seekers are arriving in Australia by air in numbers that dwarf boat
arrivals, after paying people-smugglers up to $US40,000, for a package that
includes airfares, false passports and forged Australian visas.

The racket has been revealed by a Sri Lankan refugee who was granted a
protection visa after arriving in Australia in April on false travel documents
supplied by a professional people-smuggler in Malaysia.

Figures from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship show the number of
asylum-seekers who arrive by plane dwarfs the numbers who arrive by boat. A DIAC
spokesman said that, in 2008-09, 206 people were granted protection visas after
arriving in Australia by boat, while 2172 received protection after arriving by
plane.

The total number of plane arrivals who applied for refugee status in that period
was 5076. A far smaller proportion of those who arrive by air are ultimately
found to be genuine refugees. The Refugee Council of Australia says typically 45
per cent of applicants who come by plane end up being granted protection,
compared with 90 to 95 per cent of those who come by boat.

The 23-year-old Tamil man, who revealed the racket, asked to be identified only
as "Sanjay". He fled his home on Sri Lanka's Jaffna Peninsula in 2007 at the
height of the conflict between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Sanjay, who claims to have no LTTE connections, told The Australian he was
detained in 2007 for 20 days, during which time he was kept blindfolded and
handcuffed to a pillar, beaten with rifle butts and batons and burned with
cigarettes.

He fled Sri Lanka in mid-2007 for Malaysia. Early this year, he says, he was
introduced to a Malaysian Tamil people-smuggler. Sanjay was told the fee to
travel by boat was $US15,000, while the cost to travel by air was more than
double that.

Afraid to send their only son on the perilous sea voyage, Sanjay's family, who
owned a transport business in Jaffna, sold their fleet of vehicles to raise the
money for his escape to Australia. The $US35,000 ($38,000) was paid directly to
the agent.

Sanjay was handed a one-way airline ticket to Australia and a false Canadian
passport containing a forged Australian visa.

He flew to Australia on April 12. Having been told by the people-smuggler that
he would be immediately deported if caught with false documents, he tore up his
passport on the plane and flushed it down the lavatory.

Sanjay presented himself at the immigration desk at Perth airport and announced,
"I am a Sri Lankan refugee". He spent six months in Villawood detention centre
before being released with permanent residency a few weeks ago.

Related Coverage
   a.. Detainees' plea: what about us? The Australian, 5 days ago
   b.. Test of stamina The Australian, 8 days ago
   c.. Tamils economic refugees: Sri Lanka The Australian, 11 Nov 2009
   d.. Smith heads to Sri Lanka for urgent talks The Australian, 8 Nov 2009
   e.. Sri Lankans using war as excuse - envoy Adelaide Now, 8 Nov 2009


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Mata Hati Gempa

mengenang mereka yang hilang
seperti duri di batin terluka
kapan pulang nunggu siapa?

tujuh hari berduka hatimu
mimpi sedih anak yatim piatu
realitas hidup ganas membatu

ke langit semua keluh mengadu
dunia maya tempatnya cerita
pedihnya duka korban gempa

HL
Amsterdam, 7 Oktober 2009


http://herilatief.wordpress.com/
http://akarrumputliar.wordpress.com/
http://sastrapembebasan.wordpress.com/




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Semangat Perubahan!

ide membongkar kejahatan modalnya adalah kejujuran, sayangnya manusia juga punya
napsu berkuasa dan menindas manusia lainnya.

seperti apa yang telah kita ketahui, kejahatan politik adalah biangnya tragedi.

sejarah kehancuran mentalitas bangsa akibat puluhan tahun dicengkram ketakutan,
yang nampaknya mau diulang lagi demi keabadian jurang perbedaan antara si kaya
dan si miskin.

ratusan juta orang indonesia berenang di comberan, di pinggiran sana si miskin
nonton para koruptor dan penguasa bergandengan tangan.

kekuatan masyarakat yang ingin perubahan terhimpun dalam gerakan yang mendukung
pembersihan terhadap kekotoran niat jahat orang yang tak punya perasaan,
dengarlah swara dari bawah, rakyat sudah bosan dengan janji-janji tanpa bukti.

kesadaran akan pentingnya keadilan tetap melekat dalam perjuangan melawan
pembodohan dan penindasan. alangkah hinanya jadi manusia tanpa kesadaran akan
hak-haknya sebagai warga negara.

Amsterdam, 11/11/2009


http://herilatief.wordpress.com/
http://akarrumputliar.wordpress.com/
http://sastrapembebasan.wordpress.com/




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Libas Penindas!

semua yang dikenang kemana hilang
mimpi ngeri dikejar sejuta kemarahan
surat sakti dari yang berkuasa?
ke muara berenang semua hayalan
siapa yang mengharap keajaiban?
keadilan bukan kado dari langit
bangkitlah kaum yang tertindas!

Amsterdam, 13/11/2009


http://herilatief.wordpress.com/
http://akarrumputliar.wordpress.com/
http://sastrapembebasan.wordpress.com/




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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=128731&d=23&m=11&y=2009

             Monday 23 November 2009 (06 Dhul Hijjah 1430)


       Iran's ex-veep given 6 years, freed on bail
       Reuters


       TEHRAN: A reformist former vice president accused of fomenting street
unrest after Iran's June election was released on bail of about $700,000 on
Sunday, the judiciary said, after reports he had been sentenced to six years in
jail.

       The official IRNA news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari
Dolatabadi as saying Mohammad Ali Abtahi was freed "temporarily." Under Iranian
law, people sentenced to jail can post bail and be out of prison while they are
appealing.

       Abtahi "was temporarily released after the completion of the trial,
issuing of the verdict and collection of bail amounting to 7 billion rials
(about $700,000)," Dolatabadi said.

       IRNA did not give details of the verdict but some Iranian newspapers and
the pro-reform Kaleme website earlier said a court had jailed Abtahi for six
years. Kaleme said his lawyer would seek his release on bail.

       Abtahi, one of dozens of leading moderates detained after the disputed
election, would be the most senior reformer to be jailed so far after the
election.

       Abtahi, a cleric who was vice president for Parliament and legal affairs
during Mohammad Khatami's 1997-2005 presidency, was officially informed about
his sentence on Saturday, Jahan-e Eqtesad daily said.

       Other newspapers also carried the report. They cited his daughter Fatemeh
Abtahi as saying security agents searched Abtahi's Tehran home in his presence,
after which he was taken to a court where he was told about the verdict and then
returned to jail.



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