Rasanya belum terlambat kalau saya berbicara mengenai sambutan tahun baru. Bagi umat Islam, kita juga baru di ambang tahun baru dan masyarakat lainnya masih mabuk dengan tahun baru 2011.
Setiap tahun baru bermula, banyaklah ucapan-ucapan yang diberi. Bukan sekadar ucapan dari orang awam tetapi tidak ketinggalan ketua-ketua kerajaan. kalau di Britain, Ratu Elizabeth sebagai ketua negara memang dalam agenda tahunannya akan membuat ucapan tahun baru (New Year Message) selang beberapa hari selepas ucapan selamat hari Natal (Krismas). maka akan di gariskan aspirasi-aspirasi serta harapan-harapan beliau sebagai ketua negara yang non-partisan. Berapa ramai agaknya rakyat yang benar-benar menyelami harapan beliau?
Sedari dulu saya memang tidak teruja dengan memberi ucapan-ucapan sebegini kepada teman-teman, baik rapat atau tidak. Mungkin saya di lihat tidak seiring dengan pembangunan moden yang dipenuhi dengan 'wishes' dalam apa jua upacara. Saya tidak nampak apa relevannya memberi ucapan yang sekadar manis di mulut sahaja tetapi tidak mendalami aspirasi disebalik permulaan sesuatu tahun baru. Sekadar ucapan dan gembira dengan kedatangan tahun baru! Justeru, melalui pengamatan yang sedikit, generasi yang tidak memahami ini akan hanya menyambutnya dengan ucapan dan disusuli denga pesta-pesta sosial dan maksiat.
Ini bukan sahaja berlaku dibarat yang dikatakan telah bobrok budaya kemanusiaannya. Negara-negara Islam turut menyanjung kedatangan tahun baru sepertimana negara-negara yang tidak berpaksikan kepada Iman dan gagasan Islam. Kedatangan sesuatu tahun baru hanya di penuhi dengan perhimpunan-perhimpunan sosial yang kebanyakkannya di sulami dengan aktiviti maksiat dan tidak bermoral.
Pemberian cuti umum oleh sesebuah negera atas kehadiran tahun baru tidak memberi apa-apa makna langsung secara makro... apa rasional pemberian cuti umum kalau hanya dipenuhi dengan aktiviti tidak bermoral. Kalau di tanahair, sudah menjadi budaya, maksiat akan berleluasa seolah-olah itulah resolusi hidup mereka untuk tahun baru! Seolah-olah itulah titik tolak hidup mereka!
Kalau dulu anak-anak muda yang terkinja-kinja di perhimpunan-perhimpunan ini, tapi sekarang generasi 'mak-bapak' turut serta! Yelah yang dulu anak muda sekarang dah jadi mak/bapak! Maka agensi agama pun menjadi sibuk membuat penangkapan keatas kesalahan yang sungguh menjelekan. Apakah ini budaya yang di harapkan dari permulaan tahun baru?
Bahkan pemberian cuti umum untuk tahun baru Muharram juga tidak nampak rasionalnya... Kalau sekadar satu dua upacara kebangsaan boleh sahaja dilangsaikan tanpa cuti umum. Bahkan saya fikir, tanpa cuti mungkin semangat kedatangan tahun baru baik awal muharram atau tahun baru gregorian akan lebih bermakna...dipenuhi dengan acara-acara yang memberi semangat, motivasi serta muhasabah di dalam organisasi ataupun masyarakat umum. Seumpama sambutan Hari Guru yang dipenuhi dengan aktiviti-aktiviti santai disekolah yang mengakrabkan hubungan antara murid dan guru-guru mereka. Bukankah itu lebih bermakna?
Kedatangan tahun baru memberi makna bahawa usia segalanya makin pendek tetapi tugas dan tanggungjawag makin banyak dan berat untuk dilangsaikan. Muhasabah atas apa yang sudah dilewati untuk tahun yang sudah berlalu. Mencorak resolusi bagi melalui tahun yang bermula dengan semangat dan motivasi yang tinggi. Manis ucapan tidak memberi makna apa-apa... biar esok akan lebih baik dari semalam
Dalam masa 3 tahun, sudah 2 kali isu ini dibangkitkan, sebelum ini pada tahun 2007 dan sekali lagi baru-baru ini pada 22 November 2010. Ini bukanlah isu gempar disini. Islamophobia masih lagi membelenggu kalangan masyarakat bukan Islam Britain. Keraguan terhadap Islam ini bukanlah sesuatu yang asing atau baru. Banyak perkara yang perlu di renungkan semula... kita janganlah cepat menuding jari kepada sikap mereka terhadap Islam. Mungkin orang Islam sendiri yang terus-menerus menebalkan pemikiran ini dalam diri mereka. Orang Islam sendiri yang tidak memahami erti 'hikmah' dalam pengluasan ideologinya.
Apakah Islam ini perlu disinonimkan dengan radikal? Marah! Memang semua orang Islam di seluruh pelusuk mana pun akan marah! Tapi siapakan yang telah melakukan pengeboman "tube' di London pada 7/7 enam tahun lalu. Lebih lima puluh orang awam terbunuh. Mereka ialah orang Islam. Baru-baru ni lagilah ada budak-budak Muslim sekolah, baru sekolah rendah... siap buat 'club' jihad dan masuk lagi dalam fesbuk. Siapa puncanya... Bagaimana saya akan mengatakan bahawa orang Islam ini berhikmah dalam kehidupannya?
Tidak kurang juga yang menjalankan demonstrasi-demonstrasi yang akhirnya berlaku keganasan. Anda berada di negara mereka. Walaupun anda telah menjadi warganegara tetapi pada pandangan mereka anda masih menumpang! Cuma mereka tak akan kata secara terang-terangan sebab adanya undang-undang! Sebab tu kenaikan mendadak ahli British National Party (BNP). Fikirlah... jangan syok sendiri!
Islamophobia ini memang tidak akan kurang... sebab orang Islam sendiri. Orang Islamlah yang terlibat dengan pengedaran dadah, jadi ringleader lagi, jenayah seksual dan macam-macam lagi. Orang Islam juga terlibat dengan penipuan professional...jenayah kolar putih. kadang-kadang agaknya orang Islam sendiri jadi cuak dengan orang yang mengaku Islam di sini... memanglah bukan semua tapi... kalau sebab nila setitik ni, habis semua orang kena.
Lagi satu... memanglah benda kecik-kecik tetapi pencerminan peribadi tu sangat penting sebenarnya. Kalau memandu...siapa yang langgar lampu merah... pemandu yang mengaku Islam! Kadang-kadang parking ikut suka hati pulak tu...
Jadi tak payah nak marah-marah pada mereka yang akan sentiasa memantau apa jua gerak dan geri orang Islam. Lebih baik jadikan pedoman, nak marah-marah pun malu... di mana agaknya kita meletakkan Islam sebenarnya?
Walaubagaimanapun, ingatlah peringatan Allah dalam surah Al-Kafiruun:
1. Katakanlah: “Hai orang-orang kafir!” 2. aku tidak akan menyembah apa yang kamu sembah 3. Dan kamu bukan penyembah Ilah yang aku sembah 4. Dan aku tidak pernah menjadi penyembah apa yang kamu sembah 5. dan kamu tidak pernah (pula) menjadi penyembah Ilah yang aku sembah 6. Untukmulah agamamu, dan untukkulah agamaku
Berikut adalah keratan akhbar The Guardian serta sedutan rancangan Panorama BBC1 untuk dikongsi dan renungan bersama.
BBC's Panorama claims Islamic schools teach antisemitism and homophobia
Thousands of British schoolchildren are being taught Saudi national curriculum, according to programme
Children in Islamic schools are being taught antisemitic and homophobic views from textbooks, the BBC's Panorama will claim tonight.
A textbook used in some weekend schools reportedly asks children to list the "reprehensible" qualities of Jews, according to the programme.
It claims to have found 5,000 Muslim schoolchildren being taught that some Jews are transformed into pigs and apes and that the penalty for gay sex is execution. Some textbooks are said to teach the correct way to chop off the hands and feet of thieves. A spokesman for the programme said the pupils, aged six to 18, attend a network of more than 40 weekend schools across the country which teach the Saudi national curriculum to Muslim children.
One book for children as young as six is said to ask them what happens to someone who dies who is not a believer in Islam – the correct answer is "hellfire".
Investigators claim to have also found a text for pupils aged 15 which reads: "For thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence, and their foot for a subsequent offence."
British Schools Muslim Rules, which will be aired tonight on BBC One at 8.30pm, says other texts for the pupils are said to claim that Zionists want to establish world domination for Jews, a spokesman said.
Michael Gove, the education secretary, told Panorama: "Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country. I have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But I'm clear that we cannot have antisemitic material of any kind being used in English schools."
At present, part-time weekend schools are not inspected by Ofsted but Gove said the educations standards watchdog would be reporting shortly on how to ensure part-time provision is better registered and inspected in the future.
In a written response to the findings, the Saudi ambassador to the UK said the teachings were not endorsed by the Saudi embassy.
Sebahagian dari rancangan Panorama di BBC 1 dibawah ini
Britain secara amnya sedang mengalami tekanan ekonomi yang paling teruk pada dekad ini. Hutang yang mencecah trillion pound, pengangguran yang meruncing, lambakan pendatang dari negara-negara sekutu Eropah dan masih lagi dalam proses memastikan kestabilan kerajaan campuran konservatif dan Liberal Demokrat. Adakah keruncingan-keruncingan ini memungkinkan sistem pendidikannnya menjadi kambing hitam dengan kenaikan drastic yuran pengajian tahunan sehingga mencecah 13,000 pounds dan terkini pengetatan pemberian Visa pelajar kepada pelajar dari negara bukan sekutu Eropah.
Britain tengah kepeningan... polisi-polisi yang tidak sinkronise terutama yang berkaitan dengan aspek pendidikan. Memang benar mereka kalut. Puluhan ribu anak muda berdemontrasi mengecam polisi mengenai kenaikan yuran... keluhan akademia tentang visa pelajar luar negara yang diketatkan. Barulah mereka nak mengaku betapa mereka bergantung kepada yuran pelajar asing selama ini... jangan berbangga sangat ya. cuba baca di bawah ni.
Universities warn migration limit cuts won't just hurt their finances
Cuts to migration limits will mean less of the £2.2bn overseas student share, universities warn, and a drop in research staff
Universities have warned that cuts to migration limits will affect their budgets – and their academic reputations. Photograph: Alamy
Universities fear limits on migration will hit their finances and their academic output and reputation, despite Theresa May's plans to include talented scientists in the number of highly-skilled workers without job offers who can come to the UK.
This is is an expanding market – last year income from international students' fees was worth more than £2.2bn to British universities – a total of 9% of the sector's income. Institutions like the London School of Economics, University College London and the University of Manchester, who all take high numbers of international students, are likely to be worst affected by any changes.
Such students' contributions to the local economies where they are based are also worth billions, according to the vice-chancellors' body Universities UK. In research last year it found that they spent £2.3bn off-campus.
But it is not just about money. Overseas students' academic contribution is also key, vice-chancellors say, with over 40% of postgraduate students coming from overseas, and international students sustaining the teaching and research base in engineering, sciences and mathematics. Universities UK's analysis of staff data has shown that non-EU nationals made up 11% of all academic staff in 2008-9.
Almost half the postgraduate research students studying here are international, compared to one third in the US. University heads fear a cap will make it harder for the UK to attract the world's best researchers and compete against countries like China and US, where investment in higher education continues.
And although May played to public concern about "bogus colleges" by singling out students coming to do sub-degree level courses, legitimate colleges point out that half the overseas degree students recruited by universities start out on these programmes. They warn that cutting the numbers allowed to come in by this route will penalise quality providers and universities who need tuition fee income, while the unscrupulous will carry on looking for loopholes.
Demonstrasi pelajar-pelajar di kota London pada 24 November 2010, klik
Semalam dan hari ini boleh dikatakan seluruh akhbar di UK ni menyiarkan berita pertunangan Putera William dengan orang kebanyakan atau 'commoner' Kate Middleton. Banyak-banyak berita kenapalah berita ni yang nak di kongsi disini...saya pun bukanlah orang 'raja'.... Semasa Charles-Diana kahwin, saya masih disekolah menengah, kemudian 'terpaksa' mengikuti perkembangan perkahwinan mereka yang sensasi sebab saya bermusafir di London dalam tahun 90an. Seterusnya berpeluang menyaksikan London yang disirami dengan kalungan bunga meratapi kematian mengejut Diana pada tahun 1997. Kini mungkin bakal menyaksikan (dalam TV je!) perkahwinan anak mereka, William...walaupun ceritanya tidak sehebat Charles-Diana.
Pasangan William dan Kate semasa di interview selepas pengumuman pertunangan mereka
Apa yang menarik untuk dikongsi?
Perkahwinan ini nanti menyaksikan keliberalan keluarga diraja Britain khasnya dan rakyat Britain sendiri untuk menerima orang kebanyakan sebagai bakal ratu. Putera William merupakan waris kedua selepas ayahandanya, Prince Charles, manakala Kate Middleton adalah orang kebanyakan 'middle-class'. Orang tuanya adalah staff penerbangan yang kemudiannya menjalankan perniagaan online sehingga kini. Kebobrokan perkahwinan Charles-Diana adalah mangsa polemik diraja Britain yang mahukan ratu mereka sekurang-kurangnya berdarah aristokrat. Diana adalah anak kepada Earl of Spencer, yang digelar 'Lady'. Saya masih ingat lagi bagaimana Charles telah di'pertemukan' dengan sekalian gadis baik dari kalangan aristokrat ataupun orang kebanyakan. Pelbagai telahan sehinggakan warna rambut yang menjadi pilihan Queen Elizabeth menjadi antara pengukur kepada gadis yang akan menjadi calon isteri Charles. Yang terakhirnya, Charles telah dipertemukan dengan Diana yang mempunyai package yang diperkenan oleh baginda Queen. Namun, perkahwinan mereka dilanda dengan episod-episod sensasi dan kemungkinan peristiwa tersebut telah melembutkan hati nenda Elizabeth untuk menerima gadis kebanyakan ini. Nampaknya baginda Queen seperti tiada halangan...dia pun dah penat jadi Queen!
Pasangan ini juga bakal memberi gambaran kepada keluarga diraja Britain yang lain bahawa 'perkufuan' adalah elemen penting dalam institusi suami-isteri. Masyarakat kini melihat sekufu lebih kepada intelektualisma pasangan mereka. Justeru keduanya mampu berbicara dalam nada dan bahasa yang sama. William dan Kate adalah graduan Universiti St Andrews di Scotland dan disini jugalah titik perkenalan mereka bermula. Seumpama apabila di tanya bertubi-tubi mengenai kemasukannya kedalam keluarga diraja dan dibandingkan dengan Diana, Kate yang menyifatkan sebagai 'daunting' dan 'will be doing at my stride'. Kenyataan ini disokong oleh Putera William yang menyifatkan 'nobody coud fill my mother's shoes'. Kesefahaman seumpama ini sangat perlu apatah lagi selepas ini Kate bakal di telusuri setiap pergerakannya oleh sekelian rakyat Britain. Jadi bahan beritalah dia ni!!!! Ini sangat berbeza dengan Charles-Diana. Charles lulusan Cambridge, manakala Diana tidak mempunyai latarbelakang pendidikan tinggi yang setaraf dengan Charles...Charles dilihat sebagai dominant dan authoritative dalam pasangan ini...tapi mungkin ia menjadikan Diana seorang yang penyayang!
Cuma, mungkin pengumuman pertunangan ini kurang 'kick' apabila dibuat pada masa Britain dilanda krisis ekonomi yang parah. Bajet tahunan diraja telah dipotong sebanyak £3juta untuk tahun ini... kalau ini diambilkira, mungkin pesta perkahwinan mereka tidak sehebat orangtuanya, Charles-Diana yang telah mampu meraih 750juta penonton secara 'live' seluruh dunia. Itu pada tahun 1981 yang medianya hanya bergantung kepada TV dan seumpa dengannya!
Walaubagaimanapun, bagi kerajaan campuran Cameron-Clegg, berita ini sekurang-kurangnya dapat mengalih pandangan masyarakat seketika dari kemelut pentadbiran negara. Rata-rata stesyen penyiaran memberi tumpuan kepada pertunangan 'of the year' waris takhta ini. Dan yang pasti, perkahwinan ini juga bakal mencairkan business memorabilla souvenirs dan seumpama dengannya. Semalam umum bertunang.... hari ni dah keluar iklan souvenir tu.... hebat! hebat! Saya akan tunggu di CBS!
Walau apapun, kita ke'raja'an di Tanah Melayu lebih dulu menerima rakyat jelata sebagai 'royal consort'....Tuanku Bainun, Tuanku Siti Aishah, Tuanku Nur Zahirah... tiada apa yang kurangnya pada mereka.
Education should stand as neutral without any standing of political milestones. By far it should not be commercialised. But now, it seems inevitable for students in the UK to bear the pinch of politicians on them. The almost confirmed rise in the fees pushed them onto the streets... voicing out their worries and not to forget hopes.
They want to be heard... they are concerned of future generations... but they are helpless.
Student fees protest: 'This is just the beginning' (The Guardian, 10 Nov 2010)
Tens of thousands of students took to the streets of London in a demonstration that spiralled out of control when a fringe group of protesters hurled missiles at police and occupied the building housing Conservative party headquarters.
Ministers and protesters acknowledged that the demonstration – by far the largest and most dramatic yet in response to the government's austerity measures – was "just the beginning" of public anger over cuts. Police, meanwhile, were criticised for failing to anticipate the scale of the disorder.
An estimated 52,000 people, according to the National Union of Students, marched through central London to display their anger over government plans to increase tuition fees while cutting state funding for university teaching.
A wing of the protest turned violent as around 200 people stormed 30 Millbank, the central London building that is home to Tory HQ, where police wielding batons clashed with a crowd hurling placard sticks, eggs and some bottles. Demonstrators shattered windows and waved anarchist flags from the roof of the building, while masked activists traded punches with police to chants of "Tory scum".
Police conceded that they had failed to anticipate the level of violence from protesters who trashed the lobby of the Millbank building. Missiles including a fire extinguisher were thrown from the roof and clashes saw 14 people – a mix of officers and protesters – taken to hospital and 35 arrests.
Sir Paul Stephenson, Met police commissioner, said the force should have better anticipated the level of violence. He said: "It's not acceptable. It's an embarrassment for London and for us."
While Tory headquarters suffered the brunt of the violence, Liberal Democrat headquarters in nearby Cowley Street were not targeted. "This is not what we pay the Met commissioner to do," one senior Conservative told the Guardian. "It looks like they put heavy security around Lib Dem HQ but completely forgot about our party HQ."
Lady Warsi, the Tory party chair, was in her office when protesters broke in. She initially had no police protection as the protesters made their way up the fire stairs to the roof. Police who eventually made it to Tory HQ decided not to evacuate staff from the building but to concentrate on removing the demonstrators.
The NUS president, Aaron Porter, condemned the actions of "a minority of idiots" but hailed the turnout as the biggest student demonstration in generations. The largely good-natured protest was organised by the NUS and the lecturers' union the UCU, who have attacked coalition plans to raise tuition fees as high as £9,000 while making 40% cuts to university teaching budgets. The higher fees will be introduced for undergraduates starting in 2012, if the proposals are sanctioned by the Commons in a vote due before Christmas.
The NUS president told protesters: "We're in the fight of our lives. We face an unprecedented attack on our future before it has even begun. They're proposing barbaric cuts that would brutalise our colleges and universities."
Inside parliament the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg – the focus of much anger among protesters for his now abandoned pledge to scrap all tuition fees – came under sustained attack, facing 10 questions on tuition fees during his stand-in performance during prime minister's questions. He said there was consensus across the parties about the need to reform the system.
Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, said the rise in fees was not part of the effort to tackle the deficit but about Clegg "going along with Tory plans to shove the cost of higher education on to students and their families". She said: "We all know what it's like: you are at freshers' week, you meet up with a dodgy bloke and you do things that you regret. Isn't it true he has been led astray by the Tories, isn't that the truth of it?"
Meanwhile one student won an unexpected concession from the coalition. In answer to a question from a Chinese student during his trip to China, David Cameron said: "Raising tuition fees will do two things. It will make sure our universities are well funded and we won't go on increasing so fast the fees for overseas students … We have done the difficult thing. We have put up contributions for British students. Yes, foreign students will still pay a significant amount of money, but we should now be able to keep that growth under control."
Additional reporting by Rachel Williams and Matthew Taylor
9 November 2010 Last updated at 17:53
Director resigns after University of Wales concerns
Fazley Yaakob has four hit albums to his name
Concern at uni's overseas degrees Uni's US college link 'damaging'Second uni to award own degrees. The executive director of a Malaysian college offering University of Wales degree courses has resigned after questions about his own qualifications.
Fazley Yaakob, a pop star who runs the Fazley International College (FIC) in Kuala Lumpur, has two degrees from a bogus university.
Week In Week Out examined the way in which the University of Wales validated courses in overseas institutions.
The university has said concerns relate solely to Yaakob and not the courses.
The programme reveals that Yaakob claimed to have both a masters and a doctorate in business administration. But both were from a bogus university.
Yaakob, who has four hit albums to his name, claimed to have qualifications from the European Business School (Cambridge), an offshoot of the Irish International University - which was exposed as a sham by the BBC in 2008.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
I sincerely apologise for having caused the university and its officials embarrassment. ”
Fazley Yaakob
Fazley International College
He said the University of Wales did not ask about his credentials, which were displayed prominently on the college website, until he was confronted by BBC Wales' education correspondent Ciaran Jenkins in Kuala Lumpur.
In his resignation letter, Yaakob said: "My role in Fazley International College is one of an investor.
"Though I hold a director's position, I have never been a part of the academic team nor have I sat at any of the academic meetings.
"As such, you can be assured that at no stage was the academic standards or the reputation of the university put at a compromise. To be honest I have only sat in at management meetings.
"Upon further reflection, I consider that to continue as a director could be damaging to the college, its student community and the dedicated staff who have worked hard to uphold the academic standards and integrity.
"It is quite clear that this continuing public controversy will undermine the reputation and the good relations between the college and the university, which I cannot, in any circumstances, allow.
'Public confidence'
"Therefore, I have decided to tender my resignation as the executive director of the college.
"It is my intention to keep fighting to clear my name and restore public confidence of my reputation.
"I sincerely apologise for having caused the university and its officials embarrassment.
"I do hope that the matter will be laid to rest and that the link between the university and FIC can be restored."
The University of Wales has suspended its relationship with the college - one of three educational institutions it collaborates with in Malaysia - following the controversy.
The university signed an agreement with FIC in 2007 and saw the first students admitted to its validated courses the following year, having gained provisional approvals from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.
But it has now decided not to recognise any additional admissions to its BA (Hons) Business Administration and MBA courses at the college until concerns have been fully investigated. The 35 students currently enrolled on University-validated courses will not be affected.
University vice chancellor Marc Clement said: "The principal doesn't himself teach on the course and I don't want to pre-judge the case, but I've taken this decision as a precaution to protect the reputation of the University of Wales.
"We are proud of the work we're doing internationally to take the educational values of a great Welsh institution to people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to study on validated courses, and it is important this mission isn't diluted by doubts about any of collaborative centres.
"Our validation team is experienced and highly skilled and travels regularly to collaborative centres to check the quality of the provision and work with local people to build capacity.
"Their job is to validate the courses we recognise, not the institution itself, and we're confident the university's validated courses at FIC meet our high academic standards.
"Our concern relates solely to the fact that the head of the institution has informed us of a controversy relating to his personal academic qualifications.
"This would not normally be relevant to the validation process, but we feel we have a duty to go beyond the letter of our rules so that the integrity of our courses is beyond any doubt."
The University is the second largest degree awarding body in the UK after the University of London. In 2010, it awarded 20,000 degrees and other awards and had around 70,000 people studying on its courses, of which 13,704 were on validated programmes outside the UK.
Week In Week Out: University Challenged is available on the iPlayer for seven days from its transmission date, Tuesday, 9 November.
Sekalian rakyat Indonesia pastinya tahu yang Presiden Amerika Syarikat itu akan datang melawat negara mereka. Makanya Universiti Indonesia yang dijadikan tempat sebagai ucaputamanya itu khabarnya dicutikan untuk tujuan persiapan (ini menurut seorang teman yang berkerja disitu). Nah! Mungkin tidak sia-sia kerana ia mampu meraih seramai 5,000 hadirin kesitu bagi menyaksikan seorang Presiden Amerika Syarikat yang bukan calang-calang... tapi yang nostasgik ialah beliau pernah menghirup udara Jakarta...bukan sebentar tapi empat tahun!
Namun di kala ini Indonesia sedang benar-benar digugah dengan pelbagai ujian dari Pencipta. Dari gegaran mukabuminya di Sumatera lantas disusuli dengan pancuran tsunami yang cukup menghiris setiap manusia yang melihatnya.Belum pun pulih dari kocakan itu, maka Indonesia sekali lagi di gegeri dengan letusan Merapi. Sungguh berat benar ujian ini bagi rakyatnya yang sudah sedianya banyak diuji dengan kemiskinan.
Lantas apakah ziarah seorang ketua negara yang katanya mampu menerajui dunia ini menjanjikan apa-apa? Apatah lagi ini bukan ziarah sebarang ziarah tetapi kepulangan ke tempat permainannya. Kalau kita berziarah mangsa musibah, pastinya ada huluran yang boleh menulusi hati mereka, makanya apa yang bakal di huluri oleh Obama ini kepada mereka? Omong-omongan manis belum cukup untuk merawat duka mangsa ini...mereka tentunya tidak hairan Obama masih bisa menuturkan bahasa Indonesia... apa yang lebih dibutuhkan mereka adalah secubit bantuan untuk memulakan kehidupan bersama keluarga!
Atau 'kepulangan' Obama ke Indonesia tidak ubah seperti ke'pulangan'ku ke negeri Inggeris ini? Aku rakyat marhaen yang tidak punya apa-apa...sekadar ingin melampiaskan nostalgiaku disuatu masa dulu.
Obama... oh! Obama... Siapa kamu sebenarnya????
JAKARTA, Nov 10: US President Barack Obama opened his address before a crowd of around 5,000 people at the University of Indonesia, telling the story of his childhood in Indonesia.
WHEN YOU ARE IN INDONESIA... First Lady Michelle in a Muslim scarf during a visit with her husband to Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, early today
“Pulang kampung nih [This is my homecoming],” Obama said in Indonesian to a roaring applause.
He went on to say he had spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia, arriving in Jakarta in 1967 when the country was facing economic difficulties.
At that time, he said, the highest buildings in Jakarta were Hotel Indonesia and Sarinah mall on Jl. M H Thamrin.
He also recalled a time when he lived in Menteng Dalam, and street hawkers’ cries of "sate" and "bakso" filled the night.
“Indonesia bagian dari diri saya [is part of me]," Obama said, adding that his sister, Maya Soetoro, was born when he was in Jakarta.
Obama’s mother also spent much of her life in Indonesia working to help the community through her award-winning research on microfinance.
“When I went back to Hawaii, no one would anticipate that I would return [to Jakarta] as the President of the United States,” he said
