What comes from your willing hands I take. I beg for nothing more. Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has.
If there be a stray flower for me I will wear it in my heart. But if there be thorns? I will endure them. Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has.
If but once you should raise your loving eyes to my face it would make my life sweet beyond death. But if there be only cruel glances? I will keep them piercing my heart. Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has.
Just now I found this video on the net. An NBC News coverage about two american women who converted to Islam, Angela Collins and Julia Roach. They wear hijab yet they still maintain their american identity such as being outspoken and assertive.
Youtubeislam.com The video was found on youtubeislam.com which at first I highly doubted it as a subsidiary of youtube.com and my doubt became true when I read their profile in their website.
We're American Muslims who came to Islam from other faiths. We are happy to serve Allah and share Islam - without cultural, traditional or nationalistic prejudices and corruption. We love the true and pure Islam the message it teaches: Peace; Submission; Surrender and Obedience to Almighty God. (Allah)
It's really nice to know something like this from US, a superpower country (at this era) that (their government) always treats Islam and Muslims unfairly. May Allah bless them, fellow brothers and sisters!
Time to leave Malaysia, before getting caught by immigration officer because of overstay. So we (my Mom, cousin and me) took the Express Sinar Pagi train to Singapore. It was a long 7 hours journey with a boring scenery. Scenery of Jakarta-Bandung train was much more beautiful than these flat lands and palm estates. Reached Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in Singapore on afternoon, greeted with "Welcome to Malaysia" banner and Malaysian flag... what the hell?? Just noticed that the station and also the railway along the Singapore belong to KTM, the train operator which is owned by Malaysian government.
Singapore, 14-16 June 2007 Took a cab from station to the hostel. It turned out that the driver was quite pain in the ass! Not friendly at all and blamed me because of not showing the map to the hostel. "If u had shown me the map, u would have paid less because I wouldn't have taken u around and around" (he did not say exactly like that coz he spoke in his bloody singlish). So I replied "How should I know, u're the driver, I've already shown u the complete address!" "I don't know the numbering, if u want to complain, go directly to my company!" hah, he found his own excuse. Are all Singaporeans like this guy? When reached the hostel, he purposedly dropped us at the other side of the road, and did not help us taking out those 3 big briefcases from the trunk, huh... what a gentleman!
We stayed just nearby the Bugis Junction and the Bugis MRT station. Soh said the escalators in Singapore run faster than those in KL. Well, she was right. I was also surprised just after stepping my foot on the escalator at the MRT station... whoa! We spent the afternoon by cruising the Singapore River. The recorded voice in the boat said that previously the river was very dirty and smelly because of the trading activities on the river and it took 10 years to clean the river. Wow, how long will it take to clean the Ciliwung river in Jakarta??
The next day, it was raining in the morning and it stopped just before the friday sermon. We were going to walk around at the famous Orchard Road, but we were stuck inside the MRT station during the rain. So we decided to take MRT to Little India. We went to Mustafa Centre, the giant 'toko kelontong' or 'kedai runcit' in malay. Seriously, it looked just like 'toko kelontong' (what's the proper english translation of 'toko kelontong' anyway??) based on the arrangement of goods that does not follow the esthetics of the 'high-class' department store, and we can find everything here, from clothes, i-pod, teapots, bags, chocolates, jeweleries, etc, etc... with relatively cheap price.
I did my friday sermon in the mosque just nearby the Mustafa Centre, it's called 'Anguilla Mosque', the mosque of indian muslim community in Singapore. The khutbah (speech) was conducted in Urdu (or Tamil? not sure) and I fell asleep... oops!
Batam, 16 June 2007 Took a ferry to Batam and it spent around an hour. Finally came back to my country! Relative picked us up at Sekupang ferry terminal and brought us makan to a restoran padang. Finally felt the bumpy road after one full year even never saw it in neighbouring country. We stayed at relative's house in an area called Tiban. Met Nuri and her friend at Megamall next to Batam Center, brought me to her place after wandering around some of Batam city (is that a city??) by 'luxurious' angkot (what could be more luxurious than a toyota twin-cam angkot?? it was on her of course, hehe), and treated me with good pizza and yummy donuts! Thanks Nuy!
Depok-Bogor, 18 June 2007 Shit happened on my first day home. I just got back from Universitas Indonesia and took a train from the station nearby. It was rush hour when people came back from their work and the train was extremely crowded and surprisingly dark! People kept pushing each other trying to get out of the train when it nearly reached the next station. I put my cellphone and wallet inside my bag and just noticed when I finally got a seat. My bag was teared off exactly at the part where I kept my cellphone and it was vanished. Luckily my wallet was still there. It hurt me so much knowing all my contact numbers that I'd been keeping for the past 6 years were suddenly gone!
Just a few weeks ago, I happened to watch Al Jazeera. This Qatar-based tv station was reporting on headscarf ban in Turkey, a country where 99% of the population are muslims. Although a so-called muslim reformist party, Justice and Development Party (AKP, Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) has been ruling the parliament and its president has become the Prime Minister, headscarf ban for muslim women still continues. Headscarf is strictly banned in both public and private schools and universities and government offices. This results in inability of thousands of devout muslim girls who are dying to have education, yet cannot give up their headscarves, to get enrolled in schools and universities. Some of them who are lucky enough, choose to study overseas, where they can freely express their religiosity (ironically, in western countries which are obviously not recognizing "islamic value" whatsoever). When Al Jazeera interviewed one of the AKP officers, he said that headscarf issue is not the main priority, since AKP is currently more focussed to economic development of the country. To be honest, his statement broke my heart, even though I know that they are facing a very difficult barrier regarding headscarf issue. I also know that most of AKP members of parliament (MP) have wifes who wear headscarf, including the PM's wife.
It seemed that the ruling party, which is rooted from its predecessor islamist party, Refah (which was also banned), cannot do much about this. Military is the true defender of secularism, which makes it like it is a "state religion", and they are men with guns. AKP always identifies themselves as a muslim-rooted party that fully embraces secularism, which probably that was the cause of their winning in last election, rule the parliament, and placed Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of the party, as PM. Their identity is also accepted by military, by letting them rule the country. FYI, when Refah Party identified themselves as an islamist party, won the election and placed Necmettin Erbakan, who had a strong image as a devout and 'fundamentalist' muslim, as Prime Minister, it only lasted a year, between 1996 and 1997, before they were kicked out by military power. They considered Erbakan and his Refah Party as a threat to 'holy' secularism. Refah was then banned.
Regarding the powerlessness of AKP in front of the secular extremists, recently they finally withdrew Abdullah Gul, former IDB economist and currently Foreign Minister, from presidential candidacy due to strong resistance from military, opposition parties and turkish people as well. Why was the resistance very strong? It was because Gul's wife is a practicing muslim woman who wears headscarf! And it became a problem because in Turkey, a President, in a way, is more powerful than PM and a decision maker of the national policies. The secular extremists, again, considered Gul and his headscarfed wife, as a threat to their 'religion'.
Anyway, after watching Al Jazeera's coverage on Turkey's headscarf ban, I was then provoked to find out any news regarding this issue on internet. Until a few days ago, I found out about Merve Safa Kavakci. She was a former turkish MP of Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi), elected in 1999. This party was also rooted from Refah, but they identified themselves as an islamist party. Their colleagues who had different opinion, later formed AKP. When she entered the parliament conference room to take an oath, proudly with her headscarf on, she was yelled by leftist party members, they were standing, clapping hands, yelling at her to get out of the building. Bulent Ecevit, he was the PM at that time, made a provoking speech by saying, "put this woman in her place!" After the incidence, Kavakci simply said with pride, "I was testing their tolerance, they failed!" Then horrible things happened to her and her family. The local mass media terrorized her by spreading full of hatred news all over the country. Her family was harassed, even her young daughters were psychologically bullied by their schoolmates. And finally 11 days after the incidence in parliament, she lost her citizenship and was forced to seek political asylum to another country. Now she resides in US.
Her website provides many of her talks and interviews videos, recorded from tv and other events. There are also videos about headscarf ban cases and victims. In one of her videos, she was giving a talk in Canada, and telling the absurdity of 'secular fundamentalism' (that is how she called it) practices in Turkey: There are two headscarf styles in Turkey, housewive/old lady style and educated women style. Old lady usually wears headscarf by letting the neck part not pinned, so it makes the neck area possibly uncovered. While an educated woman always pins the neck part to prevent the headscarf loose. The first one is ignored by the state, while the latter one is heavily considered as a threat. Another case; many of the AKP male MPs are devout and 'fundamentalist' muslims. They even did not really agree with Kavakci being an MP, very outspoken and wearing trousers. Many of them also grows beard, yet, they are not considered as threat to secularism.
Watching her talks and speech, and knowing the victims of headscarf ban in Turkey, I get very emotional. Hundreds of cases have happened, and most of them are harassment to headscarfed women, ironically, by their fellow muslims. "Muslims opressing Muslims", said Kavakci. She even appreciated western countries more by valuing her beyond her look. So below is one of the videos that gives a description of headscarf ban in Turkey. I was going to embed Kavakci's talks, but the duration was too long, makes it not possible to be embedded from Youtube.
After watching the video, knowing how hard their struggle to maintain their faith, hopefully it could inspire all muslimahs to appreciate deeper the true meaning of hijab!
I guess not many of us know that yesterday (2 May) is Indonesian National Education Day. I even just realized it when I saw Liputan6 news streaming on the net. There was this retired teacher who was being a guest on Liputan6 Pagi. Who was this retired teacher? He was Sartono. Still didn't ring a bell?
Terpujilah wahai engkau ibu bapak guru Namamu akan selalu hidup dalam sanubariku Semua baktimu akan kuukir di dalam hatiku Sebagai prasasti terima kasihku Tuk pengabdianmu Engkau sebagai pelita dalam kegelapan Engkau laksana embun penyejuk dalam kehausan Engkau patriot pahlawan bangsa Tanpa tanda jasa
Yes, Sartono is the creator of that song Himne Guru that we used to sing it every May 2 during our school days.He is a retired junior high school teacher and now resides in Madiun, a small quiet town in Jawa Timur province. He never got promoted to permanent teaching staff level and stayed as a temporary teacher for more than 20 years until his retirement. He never got any royalty from the song that he created, except only a 'priceless' piece of certificate of gratitude from ministry of education which is still hanged neatly on his wall.
I was a part-time teacher for around 3 months before I furthered my study here. I was teaching mathematics subject in a vocational high school (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan). I found that there were no full time teacher worked there. The school is owned by a middle-class consultant company, and all the teachers were actually consultant staffs who spent their extra time teaching at the school. There were some of them who really were professional teachers, but they were not permanent teachers employed by the school, but they were employed by some public schools nearby.
See the point here? Even if they're permanent teaching staff, employed by public schools, they still need to teach outside. And it's a common practice in my beloved country. They are underpaid! What could be more ironic than knowing that teachers, who are the pillar of education in a nation, are underpaid. To me, this is the major mistake of the former Indonesian leaders by not prioritizing the education sector as a core of nation's development. When Indonesia, and so did Malaysia, had oil boom in the 70's, both countries did the different way in spending the profit from the oil exports. Malaysia spent most of the money to develop their education system. They sent their teachers and graduates overseas, including Indonesia, to be educated and prepared to be given roles in their nation's development. What did our leaders do? They prefered to buy all the imported goods and stuffs, beside enriching themselves with luxurious houses and the most expensive cars. They didn't care of the education system. They didn't care of many school buildings got older and nearly broke down. They didn't care that many schools in remote areas didn't have tiling so the students and teachers had to do their activities on dirt. They didn't care of the limited number of classrooms in a school so the schedule had to be shifted to morning and noon. All that they did was changing curriculum everytime the president appointed a new minister, -and the students was forced to buy the 'new curriculum' textbooks without being able to use their seniors' textbooks- changing the school name from SMA (Sekolah Menengah Atas) to SMU (Sekolah Menengah Umum) back to SMA again. They didn't even think how much it costed to change the signboard over and over again, summed for all schools in Indonesia.
Education is the pillar of a nation. I really hope that the new government realizes that very simple statement. Definitely it's not an easy work to do, but at least we can pass on the work to our next generation.
