ISAFIS Newsletter 2nd Edition (3)

8/6/2019 ISAFIS Newsletter 2nd Edition (3)

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EDITORIAL W H A T S O N

THE ISSUE2nd 2011 EDITION, JULY - SEPTEMBER

ISAFIS News

iSPEAKUP REGULARSiTHEmE

Ahmadiyyah & Human Rights

04

06

On Cover:

Illustrator

ISAFIS News

2nd 2011 Edition, July-SeptemberEditor-in-ChiEf

Febi Purnamasari

Editor

Najwa Abdullah Sungkar

APProAChErCherieta Hasea

Photo CoordinAtor

Aregina Nareswari Pernong

nEWSLEttEr tEAM

Aregina Nareswari PernongCherieta Hasea

Febi Purnamasari

Najwa Abdullah Sungkar

ContriBUtorS

Amrullah Raoeddin

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Lukman Oesman

Maya Susanti

Muhammad Ari

Riza Aryani

Trisiyana Nur Ardiyanti

Widi Laras

CirCULAtion & ProMotion

Newsleer Team

LAyoUt And dESign

Yoga Pradipta Ramadhan

Keskaa haaaPu

Aer two months rest,ISAFIS News is nallyback! What did we (the

newsleer team) dobefore?

Well, I admit that I was

having hard mes passingthe toughest semester ever.And I think other newsleercrews experienced samething too. Lots of collegework to be done and blabla. But anyway, letsforget about academicstu; please welcomeholiday and celebraons!Fantasc events have been

held like our rst JakartaModel United Naonsand Indonesia Internaonal Week 2011. Not forgetto menon ISAFIS members experience either inhere or other countries for their great missions andachievements, sll on i-Journeyand i-Chievement.

In August, were going to celebrate IndonesianIndependece Day. Thats why some arcles in this July-September edion are wrien in Bahasa Indonesia.The purpose is to appreciate Bahasa Indonesia as ourmother tongue and we should be proud of it.

This edions theme is Together in Tolerance,reminding us that tolerance is an important issuein our daily life and always a hot issue to discussabout most of the me. Just like this year, we havewitnessed some conicts related to backgrounddierences such as ethnicity, religious beliefs, andracial issues in our society. Take a look at the conictbetween the Ahmadi and people in Cikeusik, WestJava. A while aer that incident, ?, a movie directedby Hanung Brahmantyo rised to remind us again aboutthe importance of tolerance and each others respect.The movie has created controversy, though, and thats

what were going to discuss about later in ISAFISNews. In the middle of lack of peace situaon, ourfriends from United States would like to share theirpeace campaign project through video and see howthe world responds.

I hope we, as Indonesian youth, can learn a lot fromthese precious knowledges and experience. Only onthe current ISAFIS News, Together in Tolerance.

Peace,

Febi Purnamasari

Manager of Newsleer

Es ne

With Mom, before performing

for Bahebbik Jakarta (22/6) at

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta

Highlighng the Revoluons inMiddle Eastern Countries

06

Easy Subsidy Access for OurFilm Makers

08

iJOURNEY

Indah in Sebumi 3 2010 InternaonalConference

13

ISAFIS: Understanding the Relaonship betweenIndonesia and EU through a Dynamic Discussion

11

Young Muslim Leadership Training Program 201021

ISAFISian inSangkala 9/1013

A Short Wonderful Story from Amsterdam14

Terdampar di Johannesburg16

Tiga Setengah Jam Bersama Dubes Palesna19

iREVIEW23 ? in Controversy

An Intriguing Interview withFreddie Paull: Spreadingthe World Knowledge withMusic Video

26

02 Editors Note

30 Flashback IMATION 2010

iCHIEVEmENTS

04

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Ahaiyyah an Huan

RightsBy: AmRULLAH RAfIOEddIN

i T H E M E

source: trendr.tv

In a current context, the existence o

Ahmadiyyah in Indonesia has brought huge

unrest and riots in several regions across the

country which is growing larger by the day. In the

beginning o February 2011, another attack is

executed by some parties/Islamic organizations

towards Ahmadiyyah. Obviously, by requently

seeing this radical proceed, we have come totake into account this serious religious issue at

national level. Thus, it should be settled as soon

as possible in order to k eep peace and harmony,

and prevent more bloodshed and violation o

human rights in our beloved country.

In accordance with, our organization,

ISAFIS, held a weekly meeting and highlighted

Ahmadiyyah and Human Rights as the corpus

o our discussion on February 19, 2011. In this

intriguing discussion, we exchanged our ideas

to one another in order to nd the solution or

this nagging issue. Firstly, we discussed about

the background o the attacks on Ahmadiyyah,

which inevitable led us to think about why

this Islamic community organizations and

Islamic parties are urious with the existence o

Ahmadiyyah and keep on opposing it.

First o all, Ahmadiyyah is not a religion, but

an Islamic religious movement that is originated

rom India and later has expanded worldwide.

Because it is an Islamic movement, they claimed

themselves as Moslems as well. In line with this,in general, they share the same belies with

Islam like believing in the prophet hood o

Muhammad and accepting the Quran as their

holy text. However, Ahmadiyyah actually dier

a lot to the Islam, and can not be regarded as a

part o Islam. Some teachings o Ahmadiyyah are

very contradictory to the teachings o Islam. One

o the major examples that can proven is that the

Ahmadis (adherents o Ahmadiyyah) believe and

have to believe in a prophet ater Muhammad,

namely Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (the ounder o

the Ahmadiyyah movement) while in the Holy

Quran (The Holy text o Islam) it is clearly stated

that Muhammad is the last prophet and there is

no prophet ater Muhammad. Following and

obeying everything written in the Quran (the

holy text o Islam) and making it as the main

guideline are the basic principles and the rst

obligation or every Muslim. The ones who do not

accomplish that, thereore, can be in no possible

circumstances to be recognized as Moslems.

Inspite o this, although the Ahmadis reuse to

recognize Muhammad as the last prophet, they

still uses the name o Islam in spreading doctrines

and building mosques in Indonesia. This is the

main reason why the general Moslem society

elt oended. They considered Ahmadiyyah as a

orm o desecration to the Islam and a misleading

sect that spread alse doctrines about Islam.

This is claried and justied by the Indonesian

Ulama Council in 1980, who is in charge omentoring, ostering, and nurturing the Islamic

society in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, Ahmadiyyah expand quite

rapidly. As it is considered as a threat to Islam,

lots o protests has been demonstrated towards

Ahmadiyyah by various Islamic parties in

Indonesia which sometimes led to anarchic

actions like burning the houses o the Ahmadis.

These actions, o course, can not be tolerated,

but, neither the actions o Ahmadiyyah that

oended Islam by spreading alse doctrines.

Thereore, in this discussion about Ahmadiyyah

and human rights, we have brought up some

ideas that can probably solve this conict.

Some o us agreed to ollow Pakistans

decision in making Ahmadiyyah a new

religion, as our Constitution clearly states that

everyone has a right to have religious reedom.

Since it is orbidden or every organization to

commit desecration o religion and any acts

containing violence, and in accordance withour constitution/law and the Joint Decree o

the three ministers, some o us agreed that

turning Ahmadiyyah into a new religion will

denitely do the trick. Nevertheless, according

to some others o us, turning Ahmadiyyah into

a new religion will not help at all. By making

Ahmadiyyah as a new religion will only motivate

the establishment and development o other

new religions which can lead to a ood o new

religions. This will be too difcult to handle or

Indonesian government, which is now already

having a hard time in managing six ofcial

religions inside our beloved country.

Thus, another solution came up inside the

discussion, which is to dissolve Ahmadiyyah

like it was done in Brunei Darussalam as there

are many parties disagreeing the existence o

Ahmadiyyah, like the Indonesian Ulama Council

(IUC). The government must make the statement

o the IUC legitimized, and dissolve Ahmadiyyah

as it is still using the elements o Islam and

acknowledge itsel as Islam.

Beore we went urther with the discussion,

some o us pointed out that the Indonesian

government is being too Islamic centric,

especially the Department o Religions. The

corridor to determine a policy in settling issues

in Indonesia is mostly taken rom the decision

o the majority, and since the majority o the

Indonesian people are Moslems, almost everyconict is seen and solved rom Islamic point o

view. The problem here is that Indonesia is not

an Islamic-based country, and thereore, must

start involving the minorities and other parties

in solving such kind o issues. In other words, be

truly pluralistic. Thereore, we came out with an

idea that in order to solve this issue, the correct

way is to hold a widely discussion/dialogue

between all parties/religions.

Unortunately, what is easy to be said, is

difcult to be done. The act is that there is

no good reciprocal communication between

religious parties when it comes to resolve

religious issues. That is to say, having a dialogue

between religions will only turn bad and bring

no solution at all. Thereore we made only two

possible solutions: by turning Ahmadiyyah into a

new religion and deleting all the Islamic elements

in it, or by denitely detach Ahmadiyyah rom

Indonesia.

Obviously Ahmadiyyah is not the onlymisleading sect that exists in Indonesia, it is one

that gives a huge impact and brings many riots

to Indonesian society. The act is that Islam is

majority in Indonesia, and all the Islamic parties

disagree with the existence o Ahmadiyyah (as

it is still carrying the name o Islam, spreading

misleading doctrines nationwidely, and

desecrates Islam) and will do anything to

eliminate it. Hopeully our government can make

the right policy as soon as possible and result

in a benecial situation or all communities in

Indonesia.

i S P E A K U P


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source: andrewjcurran.blogspot.com

Highlighng the Revoluons inMiddle Eastern Countries

i S P E A K U P i S P E A K U P

Within the past two months, international

societys attention has ocused on

the recent turmoil occurred in Middle

East. News on both electronic media and

printed media has covered this turbulence

since the revolution initiated. Many were

shocked, including leaders around the world

when witnessing Kaddas soldiers killing their

ellow Libyans, Hosni Mubarak protecting his

dictatorial presidency, and Tunisias soldierscountering the angry demonstrators only to

protecting the status quo. Considering how

this kind o crisis has begun and what can be

learnt rom the spirit o the Libyans, Egyptians,

Tunisians, and many other countries in the

Middle East, it has inspired ISAFIS members to

enrich knowledge related to these phenomena.

ISAFIS has conducted a discussion about these

issues and its implication to the world. It was

an amazing discussion since it turned out to be

where richness and vibrancy o the views, ideas,

and knowledge were transerred. Nevertheless,

we are so sure that it was not enough, and we

still eager to know more and learn about the

crisis and the underlying causes.

In order to dig deeper and expand wider in

these issues, we conducted a Short International

Studies Basic Course (SISBAC), visiting Centre

or Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a

widely known research and studies organization

ocusing on politics and economy. We had

another discussion there with our o the very

warm and brilliant stas o the Centre or

Strategic and International Studies. We were

discussing it with Mrs. Medelina K. Handatyo,

Mr. Evan Laksmana, Ms. Lina Alexandra, and

Ms. Sandra. This discussion went very smoothly

and the ow had just brought the discussion to

a deeper looks and perspectives on the Middle

Easts turmoil.

As the discussion went in a very dynamic

atmosphere, the discussion reached a point that

has not been paid by so much attention. It was

related to the spreading o the revolution in the

Middle East and its dierences with what had

occurred in the Southeast Asia in 1998. However,

beore it went urther, we were trying to set

some basis or this discussion. The rst one was

what has triggered the revolution in these two

regions. Aterwards, we were trying to examine

what had been the causes o the revolution in

the Middle East. We got to the conclusion that

all o the turmoil in the Middle East actually has

inexplicably accumulated and has it roots ar

beore the mass movement took place. Thus,

it was just a matter o time to have all o those

rustrations and veiled deprivations to explode

into a huge revolution. So, where did all o the

disappointment come rom? All o the CSIS

scholars agreed that the economic issues need

to be considered as the main reason triggering

the revolutions in the Middle East and the

dictatorial leadership just made it even worse.

The existence o a very high disparity or the

social gap among the Libyans, Egyptians, and

Tunisians has contributed as the propeller or

the revolutions. All o these economic issues had

resulted in a deep devastation and rustration

or every citizen o these th ree countries.

These go well with what had occurred in the

Southeast Asia in 1998, where the economic

crisis gave its deep impact in the society. The

economic crisis in 1998 had put Southeast Asia

countries to be trapped in an economic downturn

that had created some resistance in these

countries. Problems such as poverty, corruption,

and nancial crisis had choked Southeast Asian

peoples lie. Dictatorial leadership also took

place in the Southeast Asia under the regimes oSoeharto, Lee Kuan Yew, and Mahathir.

With all o these similarities, why did the most

blood-spattered events o the political regimes

overthrown mainly take place in Indonesia and

not occurred in the rest o the Southeast Asia

countries? On the other hand, the revolution has

spread around Middle East successully except

or the victims o the conicts.

Surprisingly, Mr. Evan rom CSIS provided a

very interesting point about this. He answered

it with reerring to the eectiveness o social

networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter. It

has shown its massive power in spreading the

news and even the spirit o revolution that had

evoked the revolution in the Middle East. As we

know, young people have been the primary users

o social networking sites and the young people

had shown or so many times their ability to

propel a revolution. Thus, it makes it reasonable

to associate the social networking site with the

current revolution. Its easiness to reach distantplaces (except sometimes being banned by the

governments) has aected the spreading o the

revolution. This is because the young people

had oten succeeded in making their own way

to reach the sites eventually. It gave a major

dierence with what happened in Southeast

Asia. There was no kind o social networking

sites like Facebook and Twitter to spreading the

idea o revolution at that time.

The dierences in the political system have

also played a major obstacle in spreading the

revolution within Southeast Asian peoples. On

the contrary, countries in the Middle East have

By:LUKMAN OESMAN

similar political system to each other. Autocracy

system with dictatorial leadership has been the

mutual characteristic o governments in the

Middle East. Subsequently, it also had creates

some kind o solidarity between the Middle East

people.

From this discussion we can see how an

event that happened in one place could be a

lesson or other people across the world. It has

motivates the ISAFIS members to discuss about

this phenomena with CSIS and we believe that

we could get a brand new image and perspective

on what is taking place in the Middle East and

the dierences with what we had experienced

in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia.

We hope this kind o discussion would lead to

a broader understanding about international

issues especially with our collaboration with

such a prominent and prestigious organization

like CSIS.

source: comicbookguide.wordpress.com


5/17

8 9

W

e might wonder i we can

create a new mainstream

in lm industry called as

Indonesian Wave just like theKoreans do to its Korean Wave. This

intriguing notion was discussed in

one o our weekly meetings; Korea:

the Emerging Pop Culture rom the

East1 at ISAFIS headquarters (9/3).

Speaking o this subject, when there is

a ore-shadowing sketch that our lm

industry will be much more developed

and world-widely amous in the near

uture, most o us still reckoned that it

was quite impossible to be actualized,

or it is just too good to be true. For

instance, take a look at our national

lm-making development, in which the

main problem is almost certainly lack

o support rom government towards

Indonesian lm making. We can come

to this perception contextually rom the

unair and inadequate subsidy given

to the national lm makers. At least,

that was what I have learned rom a

lm discussion with Riri Riza, a amous

Indonesian lm director, on April 7th at

the University o Indonesia.2

Firstly, he did not consider that the

development o lm industry was once

deeply concerned by our government

compared to other arts. For example,

in Ministry o Tourism and Culture,

there was an exclusive department or

research and development o Indonesian

lm. Moreover, rom written convention,

the government actually allocates unds

or the national lms and provides

adequate subsidy or the lm makers.

Nevertheless, there are problems which

obstruct some lm directors like Riri Riza.

According to him, limited accessibility

regarding our complicated bureaucracy

would be the main problem. From

Easy Subsidy Access for Our

Film Makers

From 98 until now, I havent got any subsidy. Riri Riza

By:Febi Purnamasari

98 until now, I havent received any

subsidy, said this Director o LaskWar

Pelangi, a national lm with the largest

audiences in Indonesia.3 He urther

explained that since Reormation

Era began, the nancial support had

only been acquired rom people who

were close to the government and

unortunately, they were not transparent

in distributing the money. That is to say,

the allocated money rom the central

government is not delivered to the lm

practitioners in Indonesia. Supposedly,

this irony is strongly related to the issueso corruption, dirty political conspiracy,

and collusion which are now become

the main bulls eye o international

critics towards our beloved nation. As

one o corrupted nations in the world,

it is generally known that the credibility

o our governmental institutions,

including Ministry o Tourism and

Culture, have been deteriorated by

irresponsible, corrupted ofcials. Thus,

too oten, there is a lot o money that

has been embezzled, and overtime,

there is no transparency whether the

money goes to proper organization or

people who need it. Regrettably, this

disappointing condition also happens

to the department which manages

the development o lm industry in

Indonesia.

As we see, it is a quite ironic condition.

Currently, people are disappointed

with most o national lms themes

and popular mainstreams such as over-

sexualized horrors and cheesy romantic

movies. Thus, they desperately need

an enlightenment or Indonesias

lm industry just like what Riri has

been trying so ar. Unortunately, the

government does not make the subsidy

easily accessible to the right people

the high-qualied lm makers who

display excellent sense o art and social

values like Laskar Pelangi. Hypothetically

speaking, the easily-accessible subsidy

in many ways will motivate these people

to create more highly qualied lms

which are largely needed by our society,

especially the lm lovers. Overtime, I just

hope that the government will provide

air and reachable subsidy or our lm

directors in the uture, so that enjoyinghigh-qualied movies and excellent

lms would not become a problem or

us.

1 Further discussion about this topic will be

published on our next issue

2 Held in 2011 Gelar Apresiasi Seni (Arts Ap-

preciaon) Faculty of Social and Polical Sci-

ences, University of Indonesia

3 The number is 4.6 millions watchers in cin-

emas, based on Laskar Pelangi Film Terbaik

Asia Pasik arcle (hp://bataviase.co.id/

detailberita-10431048.html, accessed on 10

April 2011 at 1:02 PM)Riri Riza, Indonesian flm director

source: musikallaskarpelangi.com

i S P E A K U Pi S P E A K U P


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As a students association or internationalstudies, ISAFIS not only do a weeklydiscussion to broaden students knowledge

regarding international issues, but also providea SISBAC (Short International Studies BasicCourse) conducted by the division o ForeignAairs and National Communication (FANC).

This program is designed or all ISAFISians to digdeeper certain international issues and analyticalthinking as well as diplomacy knowledge.Recently, ISAFIS was scheduled to have a SISBACwith European Union Commission or Indonesiain Intiland Tower, Jakarta. This program washeld on Friday, April rst 2011 and attended bynineteen ISAFISians. This activity started at 10.00a.m initiated by a short movie about the historyo European Union. Aterwards, it continuedwith a presentation given by Mr. CharlesWhitely discussing about an intriguing topic:Indonesia and the EU: bilateral and Internationalaspects o the relationship. Ater giving thisgreat presentation, Mr. Whitely welcomedus with a warm urther opened-discussion.Responded enthusiastically by ISAFISians, thediscussion went well and dynamic. More than

ten questions were delivered by ISAFISians inless than an hour. Seeing the questions given,Mr. Whitely told us that EU sees Indonesia as agreat international partner to achieve a mutualcooperation between European countriesand Indonesia. For EU, Indonesia not onlyhas a precisely strategic location, but also thelargest market in ASEAN. Thus, the cooperationbetween EU-Indonesia plays a signicant roleat international level. Moreover, EU believesIndonesia, as the chairman o ASEAN and amember o G20, will share core values and highcommitment or an international cooperation.Recently, EU has also given a lot o supportsor Indonesia, especially in the pervasivedevelopment, including education, trade and

investment, as well as law enorcement and justice side. In addition, EU ully supportsIndonesia in doing reconstructions in thedamaged areas o post-earthquake and Tsunamisuch as Aceh, Nias, Central Java, as well as areassurround Mount Merapi.

Philosophically speaking, the cooperationbetween Indonesia-EU is actually built undercircumstances that both are advocates orhuman rights and democracy. In each respectiveregions and global context, both are committedto signicant reductions in greenhouse gasemissions, building more eective regionalintegration, and believing in the importanceand power o eective multilateral diplomacyand institutions such as WTO and UN. By theseacts, Indonesia-EU expect that the cooperationwill bring much betterment and enlightenmentor both sides.

Besides having a great discussion, we alsohave a short discussion with Lucas, a studentrom Germany who got the scholarship romErasmus Mundus to study in Indonesia. At theend, Mr. Whitley encourages all students romIndonesia to join scholarship to study in EU.

For urther inormation regarding thescholarship, you can click at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/education/what/education/education_erasmus_mundus_tempus_en.htm

Overall, this SISBAC went very well. All theISAFISians were seemed so interested andunderstood the issues discussed properly.

The light but meaningul discussion aboutrelationship between Indonesia-EU becamemore ascinating rather than having a serious andheavy discussion. Hopeully, all the inormationwhich was obtained rom this SISBAC will beuseul and convenient or us. UnderstandingInternational issues is quite important orstudents like us, because we are a part o globalsociety.

ISAFIS: Understanding

the Relaonship

between Indonesia

and EU through a

Dynamic Discussion

source: deplu.go.id

By:mAYA SUSAN TI

i J O U R N E YSISBAC to CSIS


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13

Indah Gilang Pusparani one of the onlyfour undergraduate students selected to bethe presenter in Sebumi 3 2010 InternaonalConference held in Naonal University ofMalaysia, 12 13 October 2010. Sebumi 32010 Internaonal Conference is a biennialmuldisciplinary academic internaonalconference to meet scholars and academicsfrom Indonesia and Malaysia. Indah presentedher own paper entled Integrasi Sosial danKonik Komunal Ambon 1999 2002 alongwith other lecturers from Indonesia andMalaysia. As the presenter in conference, sheinvolved in a series of discussion in academicforums, gala dinner, and social events.She used to parcipate in paper wringcompeons and research since high school,yet this is the rst academic internaonalconference in which she is honored to be thepresenter equal to her lecturers. She is thenmore dedicated to research-related acviesand enjoying paper wring! Coz paper cansend you overseas!

Indah in Sebumi 3

2010 Internaonal

Conference

iC HI E V E M E N T S

By:INdAH GILANG PUSPARANI

Besides diplomacsimulaons andconferences, ISAFISmembers also havegood performancesachievements in Arts.Griya Ratri Putri,

ISAFIS Director ofHuman Resourcesand OrganizaonalDevelopment,is one ofthe talented personsin art performances.This Finalist of 2010Abang None Jakarta Utara (North Jakarta TourismAmbassador) took part in a play entled sgkl9/10at Teater Jakarta in May 2011.

Such play was rstly proposed by MaudyKoesnaedi, an Indonesian actress who used to beNone Jakarta in her era. Previously, the play wasonly starred by the nalists ofAbang None JakartaUtara. Then the Governor of Jakarta Fauzi Bowoasked her to create similar play which was starredby Abang None nalists from each region of thecity. Last year, the play was entled Si Doel.

This years play, Sangkala 9/10, was sengin 1740s, when a genocide or massacre towardsChinese descents happened in Batavia (the oldname of Jakarta). The Dutch invaders aackedthe Chinese descents because their business was

threatened, since Chinese business was moresuccessful. In this play, Griya performed as aChinese girl named Ni Ni Luh whose mother wasa Balinese and father was Chinese.

Apart from how the play was constructed,Griya explained what made this play special. Tohave a play in Teater Jakarta is a great achievementand takes a lot of eorts. It should have a legalapproval from Dewan Kesenian Jakarta (theArts Council of Jakarta), which has always beenperfeconist in selecng art performers toperform there, said Griya.

ISAfISian in

Sangkala 9/10

By:fEBI PURNAmASARI

source:hellogriya

.blogspot.com

credit: Indah Gilang Pusparani


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14 15

A Short Wonderful Story

from AmsterdamBy:WIdI LARAS

Last January I had an opportunityto visit Amsterdam in order to

join United Nations InternationalStudent Conerence o Amsterdam(UNISCA). It was great experience orme to have an academic experiencewhile visiting Amsterdam in the sametime. UNISCA is a course in developingdiplomatic skill held by University oAmsterdam. I was given a lecture aboutthe international issues, internationalorganizations and negotiations. They alsoconducted simulations in negotiations,UN meeting, even simulation in handlingthe crisis.

Through this event I made riendswith many Dutch students and I ound itwas a really exciting. Most o them knewIndonesia very well, especially Bali ocourse. Moreover, they also realized thatthey colonized Indonesia in the past andthought that I could speak Dutch. Theyalso always asked about what Indonesianthought o the Dutch whether they hate

the Dutch or not. Even the taxi driverasked me the same question.My participation to this conerence

brought me to eel the atmosphere oAmsterdam. Everybody must know thatAmsterdam is the capital o Netherlands.However, unlike Jakarta, Amsterdamis not a parliamentary city. It is a cityo tourists. The Gementee (Mayor)o Amsterdam city really concernedto maintain the tourism object inAmsterdam. He does not allow theexterior buildings in Amsterdam to be

distorted. The building must reectthe old Europe condition. People were

just allowed to decorate the interior.Furthermore, I could nd many museumsthere, or example Heineken Museum,Van Gogh Museum, Madam Tussaud,and Erotic Museum. The Dam Square, themost amous Amsterdam landmark, isalways crowded on the weekend. Manytourists all over the world come to takea picture here. Besides that, Amsterdamalso have a lot o church that had beentransormed to cae, bar, restaurant,store or even night club.

Amsterdam also has a good system

o transportation. Most o the peopleuse bicycle because it is the cheapesttransportation. I could nd scenery oa mother riding a bike while carryingher children and also a picture o a veryold couple cycling together. Thoughmost o people use bicycle as theirtransportation, they also has otherpublic transportation to accommodatea person like me who is not be able toride a bike. They have tram and train

rom the edge o the city to the central. The other wonderul thing rom

Amsterdam is its canals. I always walkeddown the canals rom my hostel tothe conerence place in Universityo Amsterdam. I could eel the veryrelaxing breeze when I stood on the sideo the canal. There were also a group obeautiul ducks and swans in the canalswith small boats around them.

In contrast to the old style oarchitecture and the relaxing breeze oAmsterdam, they also have the most

amous nightlie in the Europe. It is thered light district. When the sky turnsdark, all the place in that district startsto work so as the music is started toplay. It called red light district becauseit a district with many buildings thatoer naked ladies in the glass cubehighlighted by the red light. There arealso so many clubs or gay and lesbianin the district. Amsterdam also providesmany places to enjoy marijuana. They

are called coeeshop. Amsterdam is aheaven or the tourists. They could ndeasily what they want, rom the highclassic art to the wild entertainment. Itwas such a really amazing place that Iever visit.

credit: Widi Laras

credit: Widi Laras

i J O U R N E Y i J O U R N E Y


9/17

16 17

Terdampar diJohannesburg

Oleh:RIzA ARYANI

T

erkadang, berinteraksi dengan orang

baru dapat memberi pandangan lebih

baik akan diri kita. Hal ini penulis sadari

dalam perjalanan menempuh separuh bumi.

Beberapa saat yang lalu, penulis berkesempatan

mengunjungi benua Arika, tepatnya ke negara

Botswana dan Arika Selatan. Bersama dengan

rombongan dari UI, penulis berkesempatan

mengikuti sebuah acara yang diselenggarakan

di ibukota Bostwana, Gaborone. Acara yang

kami ikuti ini berskala internasional dan lebih

dari seribu mahasiswa yang datang dari seluruh

dunia bertandang ke sana.

Dengan dana pas-pasan pun kami berusaha

mencari rute termurah. Alternatinya adalah

kami menumpangi pesawat dari Jakarta sampai

Johannesburg, Arika Selatan, kemudian naik bus

untuk menyebrangi perbatasan ke Botswana.

Kami melakukan perjalanan tersebut

bereenam, salah seorang dari rombongan

itu adalah Edi Saputra yang juga merupakan

anggota akti ISAFIS. Sebisa mungkin kami

meminimalisasi segala hambatan yang mungkin

terjadi dengan perencanaan serinci-rincinya.

Soalnya, perjalanan itu lumayan jauh dan

Botswana bukanlah tempat tujuan wisata yang

tergolong umum.

Kami pun telah jauh hari memesan

bus penjemput dari panitia, termasuk

menginormasikan waktu kedatangan. Setelah

dua puluh jam di pesawat dan beberapa belas

jam transit, kami akhirnya menginjakkan kaki

di Bandara Johannesburg. Kemudian seorang

petugas konsuler dari Kedutaan Besar Republik

Indonesia untuk Arika Selatan menyambut

kami. Lalu, kami berusaha mencari meeting point

dengan panitia dan berharap muncul tanda-

tanda dari rombongan panitia penjemput di

ruang kedatangan bandara. Perhitungan kami

salah. Hebatnya, tak satupun dari k ami berusaha

mencatat nomor dari panitia. Kepanikan pertama

dimulai.

Kami pun berkeliling mencari orang yang

mungkin tampak seperti panitia. Akan tetapi,

setelah kurang lebih setengah jam mencari,

kami tak kunjung menemukan mereka. Bahkan,

setelah seorang teman berinisiati keluar bandara

dan kami menemukan tempat penjemputan

di sebuah hotel dekat sana, para panitia belum

juga kelihatan. Kami mencari-cari dengan

ketiadaan penunjuk jalan. Inilah kekesalan kami

yang pertama.

Akhirnya, kami tiba di lokasi penjemputan

yang sudah dipenuhi peserta dari negara lain.

Mereka ternyata telah sampai di sana beberapa

jam sebelumnya. Panitia menjanjikan busnya

akan tiba beberapa menit lagi. Kami bersabar

meski beberapa puluh menit kemudian busnya

belum pula datang. Tak lama kemudian, kami

baru menyadari bahwa panitia tak memiliki

nama-nama rombongan yang telah mendatar

secara online. Alhasil, kami harus mendatar

ulang dan memperoleh urutan sangat bawah.

Saking bawahnya, saat rombongan bus pertama

datang, kami tak kebagian tempat duduk. Belum

lagi, panitia menyatakan, bus berikutnya baru

saja menyebrangi perbatasan yang artinya, kami

mempunyai beberapa jam ekstra untuk tidur di

bandara.

Semua peserta menaiki bus dan berangkat

ke Gaborone. Saat itu sudah sekitar pukul 18.00.

Dengan kata lain, kami telah menunggu kurang

lebih tiga jam di bandara. Kami tetap bersabar

walau saat itu kami merupakan satu-satunya

rombongan yang belum mendapat bus, di

tambah satu orang dari rombongan Australia.

Secara diam-diam, ini menjadi kekesalan dan

kepanikan kedua. Kesal karena kami seharusnya

ada dalam datar peserta di urutan atas, sesuai

registrasi online. Panik karena kami satu-satunya

rombongan tersisa.

Kami berusaha mengisi kekosongan waktu

dengan beragam permainan hingga kami bosan.

Kami dijanjikan akan mendapat bus dalam dua

hingga tiga jam ke depan atau setelah lima

sampai enam kali bermain kartu Capsa. Bus

belum juga datang walau kami sudah bermain

Capsa dan hampir semua permainan kartu

berkali-kali. Pejabat konsuler dari KBRI Arika

Selatan dengan setia menemani kami sambil

berbagi pengalaman Beliau beberapa tahun

di Arika. Ternyata kebiasaan jam karet kita, tak

jauh beda dari teman kita di Arika. Terlambat

satu-dua jam merupakan hal biasa di sana.

Menurut perhitungan kami, seharusnya kami

telah mendapatkan bus jam delapan malam.

Namun, sampai jam sepuluh malam, kami

belum juga mendapat kabar dari panitia. Kami

mulai tak sabar, terlebih udara mulai dingin.

Kami ingin mencak-mencak dan marah, tapi tak

satupun panitia terlihat: kekesalan ketiga.

Kurang lebih pukul 01.00, panitia

menghampiri kami dan mengajak pindah

karena lokasi penjemputannya dipindahkan.

Ternyata, ada satu rombongan lagi yang

bernasib sama dengan kami. Begitu pindah,

kami melihat sebuah van putih seperti yang

digunakan menjemput peserta lainnya tadi

sore. Kami masuk ke dalam van dan berusaha

menata semua barang kurang lebih setengah

jam. Tak sampai kami duduk rapi, panitia masuk

dan menyatakan kemungkinan bus tak bisa

diberangkatkan. Mereka menjelaskan, resiko

menyebrangi perbatasan di malam hari sangat

Pelajaran dan pengalaman ini penulis peroleh setelah terdampar di bandara Johannesburgkurang lebih dua belas jam. Tulisan berikut tak berusaha melakukan generalisasi ataupenggambaran buruk terhadap pihak tertentu, melainkan berupaya untuk berbagi pengalamanberharga semata.

credit: Riza Ariyani

i J O U R N E Y i J O U R N E YBahasa Indonesia Bahasa Indonesia


10/17

18 19

tinggi seperti kemungkinan perampokan dan

serangan binatang buas dan menyatakan kami

seharusnya tak mengambil resiko tersebut.

Kami pun bingung dan kepanikan ketiga

muncul. Akhirnya, kami memutuskan berangkat

pagi-pagi sekali esok hari. Kami tak tahu harus

senang atau marah. Senang karena setidaknya

kami terbebas dari kemungkinan dikejar singa

di tengah jalan atau marah karena kami harus

menghabiskan beberapa jam lagi di luar dengan

udara yang makin dingin.

Salah seorang dari rombongan kami

berusaha mencari tempat yang nyaman di

bandara. Namun, sebelum masuk lebih jauh,

petugas keamanan memberikan peringatan

tentang keamanan bandara. Di jam-jam tersebut

bandara sudah sangat sepi dan menjadi rawan:

kepanikan keempat.

Untungnya, pejabat konsuler KBRI dengan

baik hati menawarkan kami menginap di

rumah salah satu diplomat di Pretoria. Setelah

beristirahat selama beberapa jam, pagi-pagi sekali

kami kembali ke Johannesburg. Busnya telah

menunggu dan siap untuk berangkat. Kami jauh

lebih siap menghadapi perjalanan menempuh

perbatasan. Banyak kejadian menarik lainnya

yang kami alami dan pengalaman terdampar

ini menjadi awal yang memberi pelajaran paling

berharga. Awalnya, kami ingin berteriak di

muka panitia dengan semua keterlambatan dan

konsekuensi kami harus terdampar di bandara

tanpa kepastian lebih dari dua belas jam. Namun

jika penulis renungkan, perlakuan ini mungkin

adalah hal yang pernah dirasakan lawan interaksi

kami. Terlambat menjadi salah satu kebiasaan

yang dinyatakan sangat Indonesia, setidaknya

itulah kebiasaan penulis. Terlebih, sebenarnya

hal ini bukan dilakukan dengan kesengajaan,

melainkan cenderung pada kebiasaan mereka,

tanpa ada niat merugikan orang lain.

Hal yang lebih penting lagi, di balik semua

permasalahan ini, kami bertemu dengan orang-

orang yang luar biasa baik. Simply genuine

people. Panitia yang bahkan baru kami temui

selama beberapa hari menjadi teman sangat

baik. Semua kekesalan dan kepanikan yang k ami

alami menjadi pembelajaran sangat berharga.

Kami mungkin berhak marah (kami sepakat

saat itu, kami memang BERHAK marah), namun

jika dilihat lagi, ada sisi baik dari tiap orang.

Orang-orang yang membuat kami marah ini,

bahkan tidak memiliki intensi untuk melakukan

itu. Beberapa dari mereka merupakan bagian

dari orang paling baik yang pernah penulis

temui. Mereka membantu dengan tulus walau

terkadang bentuk bantuan yang diberikan

tak selalu tampak sebagai solusi paling jitu.

Terlepas dari perbedaan yang ada, mereka telah

memberikan pertolongan serta ketulusan dan

hal itu berhasil meninggalkan kesan tersendiri

bagi penulis. Namun, pelajaran utamanya:

hindari terdampar di bandara terlalu lama, it

could bring out the worst of you

i J O U R N E YBahasa Indonesia


Tiga Setengah Jam BersamaDubes Palesna

Oleh:mUHAmmAd ARIf

Hanya segelintir orang yang bisa

bertatap muka langsung dengan

seorang Dubes Palestina untuk

Indonesia, Fariz al Mehdawi. Jumat, 1 Maret

2011 saya berkesempatan berdiskusi denganbeliau di Kedutaan Palestina, kawasan

Diponegoro, Jakarta. Saya yang hanya

mahasiswa biasa amat bersyukur dapat

memperoleh kesempatan tersebut.

Kesempatan ini awalnya muncul dalam

bentuk ajakan seorang teman. Ia meminta

saya menemaninya ke Kedutaan Palestina

untuk mencari inormasi terkait program

summer schoolsebuah universitas di Palestina.

Tak disangka, ketika sampai di lokasi, kami

diberi kesempatan untuk audiensi dengan

Dubes Palestina Fariz al Mehdawi. Hingga di

situ pun saya sudah sangat bersyukur.

Saya tak menyangka audiensi akan

berlangsung selama tiga setengah jam. Kami

membicarakan banyak hal, mulai dari politik

Timur Tengah, konik Arab-Israel, korupsi di

Indonesia, hingga soal pernikahan.

Menurut Mehdawi, konik yang terjadi di

Palestina sudah lama menjadi isu internasional

yang melibatkan berbagai kepentingan.

Seperti halnya Indonesia, secara geogras

Palestina dekat dengan Eropa, Asia, dan

Arika. Selain itu, secara geopolitik, berbagai

kepentingan bersilangan di kawasan sempit

ini. Jika dulu Dinasti Usmani lalu Kekaisaran

Ottoman menaruh kepentingan besar

di Palestina, kini Barat menjadi pemain

utamanya.

Pembelajaran soal Palestina pun menjadi

suatu agenda yang melibatkan pemahamankomprehensi berbagai macam isu. Tak cukup

melihat Palestina dari segi politik kekinian;

kita perlu melibatkan pula kajian historis,

ekonomi, interdependensi, dan lain-lain.

Saya menangkap, tidak hanya Mehdawi,

tetapi juga orang Palestina pada umumnya

cenderung menghindari pembahasan

terbuka tentang konik Arab-Israel. Selama

tiga setengah jam berdiskusi, tak sekalipun

Mehdawi memakai kata Jews. Israel pun

hanya beberapa kali digunakan. Agaknya,

ini berkaitan dengan hal yang Mehdawi

ungkapkan bahwa orang-orang Palestina

cenderung menolak menyebut dirinya sebagai

korban. Harga diri orang-orang Palestina ini

tinggi dan merupakan sesuatu yang pantas

ditiru.

Pembahasan kami kemudian berlanjut

ke topik pembangunan di Indonesia. Seperti

banyak tokoh internasional, Mehdawi menilai

Indonesia memiliki prospek yang sangat

baik untuk setidaknya masuk dalam sepuluh

negara paling berpengaruh lima hingga

sepuluh tahun ke depan. Maka demikian,

Mehdawi mengimbau kaum muda Indonesia

untuk bersikap patriotik demi memajukan

Terima kasih yang tak terhingga untuk Dian Aditya Ning Lestari atas kesempatan yangdiberikan. Tulisan ini saya dekasikan untuknya.

i-Recommend

Change can either challenge or threaten us. Your beliefs pave your way to success or block you.

The SunFlower Post is a project where y oung females from different parts of the world write aboutlocal news, with a gender perspective. They become empowered by this platform, and believe inthe importance of getting their voices heard by you, their global audience.

thesunowerpost.org

- Marsha Sinetar


11/17

20 21

bangsa dan negara. Di samping itu, Mehdawi

berpendapat, korupsi tetap menjadi momok

bagi Indonesia jika bangsa ini ingin maju. Ia

menilai pemberantasan korupsi harus dimulai

dari bawah, bukan top-down seperti yang

dilakukan sekarang.

Bagian paling menarik dari audiensi

ini justru persoalan yang terkesan sepele:

cinta dan pernikahan. Mehdawi tidak setuju

jika pernikahan disebut hal sepele. Its very

important. Dont joke with it, ujarnya. Kami

membahas hal ini setidaknya selama dua jam.

Awalnya Mehdawi bercerita tentang masamudanya. Ia yang telah sarjana akhirnya

memutuskan untuk terjun ke dunia politik,

bergabung dengan Partai Fattah. Bagi

Mehdawi, politik merupakan panggilan hati

untuk berjuang demi bangsanya. Mehdawi

merasa tak masalah jika politik ternyata

mustahil memberinya jaminan kesejahteraan

hidup. Kedua orangtua Mehdawi pun

sempat menentang keputusan tersebut.

Hingga akhirnya, Mehdawi tetap teguh pada

pilihannya.

Di dunia politik pula ia bertemu dengan

perempuan yang kini menjadi istrinya.

Kata Mehdawi, ketika itu ia menikah lebih

karena desakan orangtua, bukan keinginan

pribadi. Lalu, ia memilih seorang rekankerja yang bahkan belum pernah ia ajak

bicara, melamarnya, dan dua hari kemudian

menikah.

Bagi Mehdawi, independensi bagi

perempuan adalah hal yang penting.

Banyak pria menginginkan perempuan

yang bergantung pada mereka. Menurut

Mehdawi, ini salah, justru perempuan yang

independen, cerdas, dan kuat yang akan

menjadi istri yang baik. Dengan muka serius,

Mehdawi mengingatkan kami berdua,

jangan berpacaran selama kuliah. Selesaikan

sarjanamu. Bekerja satu hingga dua tahun,

kemudian menikahlah! Dan jangan memiliki

anak sebelum dua tahun pernikahan.

Semua itu Mehdawi ucapkan, sepertinya,

bukan atas pertimbangan etika moral atau

semacamnya. Baginya, hal terpenting adalah

independensi dan kebebasan yang dibangun

dari pengetahuan. The most important thing

or humans, more than other things together, is

reedom, ujar Mehdawi. Ia pun juga mendorong

kami untuk berbuat banyak di usia muda. Usiakami, menurut Mehdawi, adalah saat-saat

manusia berada pada puncak kebebasannya.

Kami bebas melakukan apapun yang kami

mau. Mehdawi berpesan agar jangan pernah

takut untuk salah. Ia menambahkan, theres

nothing wrong about doing wrong.

Diskusi panjang itu pun berakhir dengan

gurauan Mehdawi yang mengatakan, ia

ingin saya mengajarinya teknik menaklukkan

wanita suatu saat nanti.

Semoga Tuhan memberkati Mehdawi, dan

Palestina.

credit: Muhammad Arif

Young Muslim LeadershipTraining Program 2010

Oleh:TRISIYANA NUR ARdIYANTI

Itulah kalimat pertama yang diucapkan

sang project managerdari Universitas La

Trobe kepada penulis via sambungan

langsung jarak jauh Jakarta-Melbourne.

Secara pribadi, penulis tak menyangka akanterpilih sebagai perwakilan dari Indonesia.

Pihak penyeleksi mengatakan, ada sekitar 80

pelamar untuk program ini. Mereka hanyamemilih masing-masing dua orang peserta

dari empat negara di Asia Tenggaradan

penulis adalah salah satu yang beruntung

dari dua orang tersebut.Tahun 2010 merupakan tahun keempat

pelaksanaan the Young Muslim Leadership

Training Program. Program ini pertama kali

diinisiasikan Josseph Camilleri, DirekturPusat Dialog (Centre or Dialogue) Universitas

La Trobe di Melbourne. Namun dalam

pelaksanaannya, institusi yang membantusecara signikan adalah Islamic Council o

Victoria (ICV).

Jumlah peserta secara kesuluruhan

adalah 28 orang dengan komposisi 14 wargaMuslim Melbourne yang sebagian besar

dari merekaberasal dari Timur Tengah dan

Asia Selatan serta masing-masing 2 orang

peserta dari Indonesia, Malaysia, Mindanao-Filipina, dan Pattani-Thailand. Sekedarinormasi, pada2009, delegasi Indonesia

berjumlah empat orang.

Pelatihan Kepemimpinan bagi Pemimpin

Muda Muslim ini berlangsung dua bulan.Selama itu, program berlangsung di

tiga tempat, yakni Melbourne, Sydney,

dan Canberra. Pemerintah Australia dan

beberapa institusi sponsor membiayaiseluruh akomodasi untuk peserta selama

program berlangsung. Sebagian besar

acara dilaksanakan di Melbourne, hanya

tiga hari kunjungan ke Canberra dan

Dear Trisiyana, congratulations on beingchosen to take part in the Young MuslimLeadership Training Program or 2010 inMelbourne, Australia.



Trisya dan temannya diwawancarai SBS Radiocredit: Trisiyana Nur Ardiyanti


12/17

22 232322

i R E V I E W

lima hari ke Sydney. Berbagai kegiatan diketiga kota tersebut berhasil memberikan

pelajaran berharga dan pengalaman tak

terlupakan bagi penulis. Kegiatan tersebut,

antara lain kunjungan ke lembaga-lembagapemerintahan di Canberra, salah satunya

Parliament House, dialog antaragama

bersama komunitas Buddha di Sydney,

Prospect or Peace in the Middle EastConerence,dan wawancara oleh radio SBS

Australia.

Setelah dua bulan menjalani program,

tinggal di Melbourne dan seperti memilikikeluarga baru dari Malaysia, Pattani, juga

Mindanao, akhirnya kelulusan pun tiba.

Salah satu bagian dari susunan acara wisudatersebut adalah pemutaran video daripeserta yang saat itu saya buat sendiri. Video

itu diakhiri dengan arti kata leadership yang

menurut penulis setelah mengikuti program

tersebut adalah L: Listen, E: Empathy, A: Act,

D: Dialogue, E: Encourage, R: Respect, S:Speak, H: Humble, I: Initiate, P: Participate.

Melbourne, Kota Wisata Dambaan Di

Negeri Kangguru

Sebagian besar acara yang berlangsung

di Melbourne menumbuhkan kecintaan

sendiri bagi penulis terhadap kota yangsangat ramah dan terkesan homeytersebut.

Apalagi, setelah penulis melakukan

kunjungan program di Canberra dan Sydney,

perbedaan dan kenyamanan tersendiri

terhadap Melbourne begitu terasa.Di lihat dari aspek pariwisatanya,

Melbourne menawarkan banyak tempat-

tempat menarik untuk di kunjungi.Walaupun program yang saya ikuti adalah

program kepemimpinan, khusus bagi

peserta dari Asia Tenggara, ada waktu-

waktu tertentu bagi kami untuk bertamasyadan menikmati keindahan kota Melbourne.

Keindahan sungai Yarra yang terletak di

pusat kota Melbourne, misalnya, menjadi

salah satu tempat avorit para turis. Sungai

yang membelah Negara Bagian Victoria itudikemas sedemikian rupa sehingga benar-

? in ControversyBy:fEBI PURNAmASARI

Q

uestion Mark shows amilyand riendship conict whichhappens in an area around

Pasar Baru, Semarang, where thereare mosque, church, and temple liveclose to each other. Three amilies withvarious backgrounds are captured onthis movie: Tan Kat Sun amily who areChinese and own a not halalrestaurant,a Muslim amily, Soleh and her wie whoworks or Tan Kat Sun, and the amily oRika, a widow who has converted herreligion into Christian. Its not only aboutreligion; its also about other pluralismconict like ethnicity and race which liveside by side in daily lie, especially in acountry like Indonesia.

Every amily have dilemma aboutdierences and they are trying to handlethem with ways which sometimes reapcontroversy. The dierences and thecontroversy maybe the main things that

Hanung tries to reveal to the viewers. As? press release states on its website,this is the rst lm brave to revealdaily social concts due to the variouspoint o views about lie. The purposeis to remind again the importance otolerance among the diversity or abetter nation.

A Movie about Dierence with VariousResponses

I watched ? with my best riendduring the early days o its releases oncinemas. Apart rom the controversial

Does it sll maer if weredierent? Such queson closesthe trailer of ? and the answercould be found implicitly on the

movie itself.

symbols and exposures o this movie,were impressed with the messagesbehind it, especially the tolerancevalue which is truly emphasized. AndI ound my riend really appreciatedthe movie because he thought he hadsimilar uncommon experience about

background diversity. FYI, my riend, aMuslim, went to a Christian school whenhe was in elementary and he also lives inChinese neighborhood.

However, dierent opinionswere revealed when I asked myuniversity riends, most o them romCommunication major, about ?. Someo them appreciated like I and my rienddid while another riend thought thismovie was too much. They also havetheir own subjective ratings and reviewabout this movie. Lets hear what theysay.


benar memberikan nuansa pemandanganyang sangat indah. Di kiri-kanan sungai

juga dibangun kawasan yang memang

diperuntukkan untuk bertamasya seperti

jalan setapak, restoran atau kae, dan tamanbermain.

Para turis domestik maupun

internasional tidak perlu khawatir untuk

masalah transportasi di kota Melbourne.Kota yang sudah dua kali mendapatkan

predikat The Worlds Most Liveable Cities

(kota paling nyaman untuk ditinggali)

dari The Economist pada 2002 dan 2004,menyediakan transportasi lengkap mulai

dari kereta api, trem, dan bus. Layanan ini

sudah terintegrasi dalam jaringan bernamaMetlinksehingga satu karcis dapat digunakanuntuk ketiga layanan tersebut. Ada pula

transportasi unik yang bisa menjadi pilihan

untuk mengelilingi pusat kota Melbourne.

Transportasi tersebut mirip seperti dokar,

namun kita harus mengeluarkan biayasedikit lebih mahal untuk per jamnya.

Bagi penulis, tidak akan pernah ada kata

menyesal untuk datang ke kota Melbourne.

Trisya (tengah) dengan kedua temannya.credit: Trisiyana Nur Ardiyanti


13/17

24 25

Through Question Mark, Hanung triesto test sensitivity and tolerance amongreligious ollowers in Indonesia. However,this movie which (maybe) have purposeto create tolerance has lost its substance,instead. This movie is trapped to only be aparade o religious symbols.

He tries to teach us about toleranceamong religious ollowers with Hanungsversion about the image o an ideal society.On that image, a Muslim can take a roleas Jesus in a play or Easter, a Muslim canwork at a restaurant which provide oodwith pork, and other examples related tovarious religious ollowers interactiondescribed on this movie. Unortunately,such ideal image has blurred the real problem about interaction betweenthose religious believers in Indonesia. Itsimpossible to nd in the reality o Indoesiansociety that a Muslim would like to play asJesus in a story aboutcrucixion. As wellas Christians, they wont let that situationhappens. Hanung doesnt try to describetwo belies which live side by side; heshows the sacrices toward each belies sothat those can live side by side, instead.

Religious symbols are very exploitatedon this movie. There are some scenes onthis movie, which are actually unnecessarsuch as adding religious symbols. I dontknow Hanungs purpose or that, butthat parade o religious symbols is quitedisturbing and dont strengthen themessage at all.

Apart rom those negativities, thismovie is quite rereshing and have qualityamong sexual-horror movies whichdominate Indonesian cinemas nowadays.At least, we still have a bright director whowants to risen social issues in Indonesiansociety.

Mochamad Iqbal

ra:

I you want to watch ?, you shouldhave an open mind. There are some thingsmight be seen crossing the religious norms.You shouldnt see that; you should see themessage rom that movie, instead. Whenyou live, especially in Indonesia, there aremany backgrounds so that you shouldappreciate each other.

The acting is good. I couldnt determinethe main character o the movie becauseevery gure shown has strong and prominent character. The amilies haveconict and it is the connector among

them. For example, when Hendra mustcontinue his athers Chinese restaurantthen he apply a rule considred as notrespecting the Muslims like to shortenIslamic celebration, as public holiday,or his workers. This act has triggeredthe Muslims anger. It seems that everycharacter can take the wisdom o everyconict.

Faisal Ramadhan

ra:

I still see this movie rom Pluralism point o view. I think this movie is good.However, people think this movie iscontroversial. I like it or its Pluralism and?, at least, can make a good image aboutIslam.

About the things which have crossedthe line on the movie... I think its not a problem. For me, it shows that theres nolimitations, instead. The example wouldbe the role o Christian gure should beplayed only by Christians. And my avoritequote is dont act oolish because o beinglimited by the religion.

Puri Handoko

ra:

The lm ? by Hanung Bramantyoreminds me o rainbow, where diferentcolors stand together evenly and not eventry to dominate each other. The sevencolors appear rom one colors reraction.

Then, what is diferent in lie?We areheterogeneous who happen to live next toeach other (seven colors o rainbow). Weworship (one) God that may be reractedinto several belies (the white color). Whatis not ideal recently is some o us (thecolor(s)) have tried to dominate eachother. My question would be, why getting

bothered when you are not bothered?Is it simply because you are dominant(quantitatively)?

This lm is an alarm. An alarm to berespectul to what (or who) is diferent.Yes, respect! And it is probably noteworthythat there is no need or us to be like thediferent when we express that we respectthe diferent. I still believe in Islam whichteaches me to be respectul. To alert theothers (which may include the diferent,in some cases) when they are going wrongway, peaceully; not by conducting suchbrutally destructive symbolic action(s).

Going back to the rainbow law, Ibelieve that everyone will always be happyto see rainbow (well, at least the children).We (the mature adults), as well, I suppose.Such harmony epitomized by seven colorscoming rom one spectrum o color (white)amaze us to the max whenever we see it.

Unortunately, rainbow seldom comeson Earth lately. Rain and sun seem to bereluctant to appear the rainbow where therainbow law does not work.

Gilang Re

i R E V I E Wi R E V I E W

source:wordpress.com


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i R E V I E Wi R E V I E W

An Intriguing Interview with Freddie Paull:

Spreading the World Knowledge with

Music VideoOleh:fEBI PURNAmASARI

What we see at the beginning of

the video is a man who wakes

up to nd a $20 in his begging

cup. Later on, he goes to a store and buys a

whiteboard which he uses to tell everyone in

the city about various points of view or facts.

I have some things Id like to say. The guy

shows up holding the wrien whiteboard on

the street where cars pass by. On the next

scene, he connues holding the whiteboard,

with dierent wrings. There is a lot going on

in the world that you may not know about.

This MGMT music video looks dierent. On this video entled MGMT Congratulaons

Music Video, we will not see any specic concepts. There is no monsters, dancing

people, even Andrew and Ben, the personneels of that American psychedelic band.

This man walks and walks day and night sll

holding on the whiteboard with messages in

one theme: global issues.

Some of us who searched for MGMT video

might be misleaded, because actually, that

is not the ocial MGMTs Congratulaons

video. It is the video of Freddie Paull, a

student of The Film School @ SCC, which is

made for his nal project in Documentaries

for Social Change class. Many audiences

appreciate it, though. Not only did he get an

A+ on the project, Freddie also got more than

a thousand likes on YouTube. Moreover, his

video has been featured in a lot of online

magazines, and contacted by the band,

MGMT, itself.

Having wondered about the process

of the video-making, ISAFISnews decided

to interview Freddie Paull who lives in

Scosdale, Arizona, United States via social

networking site.

isaFisw (I): Now, I will ask you several

things about the video. Who is this man in

the story? Is he a homeless man?

Freddie Paull (F): The homeless man is

Jude, a man who makes a mindful decision to

buy a whiteboard and a marker and to spread

knowledge instead of spending his money

on alcohol or drugs. In this way, he is able to

do something signicant and meaningful in

his life, and make a dierence in our society

instead of trashing around.

I: What had inspired you to make mGmT

Congratulaons Music Video?

F: The inspiraon for this lm came

from ignorance and obliviousness of many

Americans. Over the course of my class,

we watched many documentary lms with

world-widely dierent perspecves. In these

lms, there were many surprising and mind-

blowing facts that I just couldnt believe and I

havent heard before. Regarding this, I wanted

to nd a way to spread this knowledge to

people who didnt watch these lms or didnt

have access to them. At that me in my life, I

also reached a turning point with a lot of the

narrow-mindedness and ignorance that took

place all around myself.

I: What is your role in here?

F: I wrote, produced, and directed the

lm. That is to say, I did almost all the process

of lming myself.

I: Who helped you in making the video?

F: I form a small team comprised of my

friend Kyle, who played Jude - the homeless

man, and my friends Jon and Sam who

helped me pick out locaons and acted as

bodyguards for me. Americans have very

persistent opinions, so telling them that they

are wrong can be a dangerous move. On the

scene where Jude is walking through some

shops with the board that says Believing

that every Arab is a terrorist is like believing

that every American is a prostute, you can

see a man who tried to come to us, probably

to verbally assault us or something. We

managed to get out of there in me though.

I: Where did the video take place and

why did you choose that locaon?

F: The video takes place in Scosdale,

Arizona, which is appropriate for the

seng of video since it is one of the places

where most of snobbish, ignorant, and self-

centered people of the United States live. In

Scosdale, everyone drives around in their

hundred-thousand-dollar sports cars, goes to

ve star restaurants for their three-hundred-

dollar meals, and goes home to their cozy

ve-million-dollar houses on the side of a

mountain, but never think about what might

be going on in the rest of the world. All they

think about is me, myself, and I. You could

live your whole life here and be oblivious to

the fact that wars, famine, and corrupon

are taking place all around the world. Its the

ulmate haven of ignorance.

I: Why did you choose global issues as

the theme?

Jude the homeless mancredit: Freddie Paull


15/17

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F: I chose global issues as a theme because

in the United States, somemes it seems like

everyone is so wrapped in America that they

dont even know (or care) of what is going

on with the rest of the world. The American

media even mostly just covers what is going on

within the country, and the fact is Americans

only make up a small poron of the worlds

populaon. A lot of Americans also have this

mindset that they are the most important

people in the world and their country is the best

in the world. I wanted to reduce all that down

to circumstance. THEY didnt chose where they

were going to be born or what circumstances

they were going to be born into.

I: There are some messages on that video

which show facts such as the Japanese are

killing dolphins and so on. Where did you get

the facts from?

F: All the facts in the video are accurate

and from evidence presented in the

documentary lms I watched in my class. I got

this informaon from The Cove which has

photographic evidence that shows Japanese

trapping hundreds of dolphins in a secluded

cove and then mindlessly slaughtering them

with spears. Then, I got other informaon

shown on the video about US air-force pilots

from Bigger, Stronger, Faster which covers

the debate over performance enhancing drugs

and Americans constant hunger to be number

one at everything.

I: You also put some quotes. Whose quotes

are on the video?

F: I wrote the quotes in the lm with the

excepon in the last quote, which was wrien

by John Lennon, my favorite music legend and

my personal hero. John understood that one

of the keys to peace is understanding people.

I think the day when we can learn to think

outside of our own worlds is the day we will all

live for one thing. Love.

I: Why do you choose Congratulaons

by MGMT as the music? Does it have any

correlaons with your videos concept?

F: The song itself is very cynical and sarcasc

when it talks about acquiring fame and all the

things come along. It was a tongue-in-cheek

congratulaons to the American people for

being so damn ignorant and not searching for

knowledge. It was sort of a Congratulaons,

America. Look at what your country has

become.

I: Why did you name the video MGMT

- Congratulaons Music Video instead of

giving another tle which is more correlated

with your video content?

F: I had originally named the video $20,

but aer a week or so, it barely had a hundred

hits. I decided to change the name, because

I knew that the messages would reach more

people around the world. I have been cricized

for misleading people into thinking that its the

ocial video, but the fact that it has 1,869 likes

and 84 dislikes suggests that I actually did not

mislead anyone, but just exposed them to

something that they didnt expect but enjoyed

nonetheless.

I: Do you get any responses from the

band itself (MGMT)? Because you know, you

kind of used their musics

F: I did actually. They emailed me and told

me that they liked it. However, their manager

wanted to declare a word unocial in the

tle. Naturally I ignored it.

I: Have you received any

specic responses either posive

or negave? What are they?

F: I have received many kinds of responses

to the video. Some people have emailed me

just to thank me for making it. A few people

post comments claiming that the facts are

false when actually theyre not. Its just their

ignorance that keeps them to think that way.

The messages that mean the most to me are the

ones where people tell me that I have actually

made a big impact on their life, the way that

they think, and the way they view the world. It

always makes me cry a lile tear of happiness

because it proves the quote at the end of the

movie. Anyone can make a dierence.

I: What is your main message to the

audience by publishing this video?

F: The message of Equality is a big part of

this video. Every single one of us is a human.

Whether you are the queen of England, or

a beggar on the streets of India, you are

equal. Therefore, no one should be judged or

discriminated against because of their color,

accent, appearance, or beliefs, because it was

a pure circumstance that allowed them to be

born where and when they were born. But

hunger for knowledge is at the heart of this

video. It is the main message. Two years ago, I

traveled to India and Bangladesh to work with

a humanitarian organizaon. When I was

there, I started learning about their beauful

cultures, and eventually, I found that we arent

that dierent at all. The key to living peacefully

is understanding each other. The more we talk

to each other about what we believe, and how

we feel and think, the greater understanding

of humankind we have. The key is wanng to

know. You need to WANTING to nd out about

how others think, act, and live. And when

you do that, you nally realize that they are

humans. Not an idea or an enemy, a human,

just like you and I.

I: Is that you at the end of the video?

F: Yes ,that is me at the end of the video. I

wanted to show that we can spread this world

knowledge by sharing it, and I wanted to send a

message of hope to those who were watching

it who also want to spread the knowledge, that

they are not alone.

To access this video, you can open the link

below:

hp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26p1-

RO6vVk

or simply search MGMT Congratulaons

Music Video on YouTube

FreddiePaull

credit:FreddiePaull


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ISAFIS Newsletter 2nd Edition (3)