Monday, December 10, 2007

The word “arif” (wise) comes from the Arabic `arofa - ma`rifat -`arif-ma`ruf whose basic meaning is to comprehend. Comprehending is different from knowing. Knowing is cognitive based on knowledge, observation, or theory. Meanwhile, comprehending is affective, based on direct experiences. For example, a wife had been married with her husband for almost 20 years, but in fact she did not fully know his husband yet. Later, she was shocked after finding out the true identity of man with whom she has been in a same bed for 20 years, since she had been misled by his physical appearance.

Wise character has not only horizontal but also vertical natures. A vertically wise person is said to have achieve the level of ma’rifat, comprehending God (in certain aspects), not merely knowing Him. Since a wise man comprehends his God as the Most Beneficent, then he would be able to endure failures and misfortunes, since perhaps those misfortunes are only trials God gives to him. He truly realises that difficulties are parts of living system. He realises that God had created a law system in which no dark forever, light must come after dark. Similarly, easiness will come after difficulties.

Wise people still will be smiling in time of troubles, ready to be disappointed and sad without any word. On the contrary, unwise people will be easily frustrated, complaining in time of troubles, not ready to be disappointed, and expressing his sadness with abuses. Wise people comprehend themselves, so that they are self-conscious. If a person had comprehended himself, he would comprehend his God, man `arofa nafsahu `arofa robbahu.
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Bias of Jihad
Al Quran mentions these following two terms: jihad and qital. The word “jihad” in its various derivations is mentioned 41 times in 19 verses. Some of them were revealed in Mecca, while the others in Madinah. In the perspective of lughawi (language) jihad means “fighting against enemies”, dedicating all abilities and powers in forms of words, actions, and everything that one able to dedicate. Meanwhile, the word “qital” clearly denotes war and it also contains the meaning of killing enemies (qatala). On the contrary, the word ‘jihad” may mean war against enemies, but also may mean working hard not in the context of war. From the word “jihad” a sentence on jihad arise, “working hard intellectually and mujahadah an nafs, working hard spiritually”.

Concept of Jihad in Al Quran
From those 41 verses mentioning the word “jihad”, 28 of them mention jihad in the meaning of struggle, for example, command to jihad by using Al Quran against kafirin (unbelievers), fala tuthi` al kafirin waja hidhum bihi jihadan kabira (Q: al Furqan:52), doing jihad and be patient after hijrah, tsumma ja hadu wa sabaru, (an Nahl:110), benefits of jihad, wa man ja hada fa innama yujahidu linafsihi, (al `Ankabut:6) jihad with properties and souls ( wal mujahidun fi sabilillah bi amwalihim wa anfusihim (an Nisa :95) and so on. Meanwhile, the verse firstly allowing jihad in the context of war uses the word “qital”, stating that Muslims fought against by enemies may defence themselves through physical war, uzina lillazina yuqataluna bi annahum zulimu, (al Hajj:39), and these verse refers to the first battle, the battle of Badr.

Meanwhile, in hadith jihad doesn’t only refer to war, but also hajj. The commands to jihad are intended for individuals (mukhatab mufrad) but majorities of them are intended for groups (mukhatab jamak). Some commands to do jihad mentions the objects, kafirin and munafiqin (hyprocretes) like those mentioned in At-Tahrim 9, jahid al kuffar wa al munafiqin. Rule of interpretation determines that if a transitive verb mentioned in a verse without mentioning the object, the object of the verse is of general nature. Therefore, objects of the jihad are not only unbelievers and hypocrites, but everything included in the meaning of fisabillah (fighting in way of Allah), for example giving foods to the poor, releasing slaves (al Balad; 13-16). Hence, jihad doesn’t have to use swords, but may also pens or words.
Jihad and Die as Syahid

Al Quran often mentions die as syahid in connection with jihad as something highly honorable. It is mentioned that those who killed in Allah's way are not dead, they are even alive in a better life (al `Imran: 169). That’s why mujahiddin (jihad doers) enthusiastically try to achieve syahadah (die in way of Allah), since syahadah is an achievement and more beneficial. The jargon regarding syahadah is “live respectfully or die as syahid (Islamic martyrs)”.

Jihad and Dakwah
Basically dakwah is freeing man from the chains of unbelief, hypocrisy, slavery, polytheism, and other wrongdoings or deviations. In essence, dakwah is socialisation of the role of Islam plays as the religion of blessing for the universe. Al Quran should be preached to mankind. In submitting dakwah, we often meet obstacles, therefore jihad as part of dakwah are required for:

1. Fighting crimes
2. Protecting the society from enemies’ disturbances
3. Denying slanders
4. Safeguarding continuation of dakwah

Jihad in forms 1, 2, and 3 are defensive, meanwhile form 4 may be offensive. The aim of jihad among others to make sentences of Allah in victory, kalimatullah hiya al ‘ulya (at taubah: 40). In the period Makkah, Al Quran in general commands Muslims to be patient and do jihad through Al Quran (dakwah), but in the period of Madinah, Al Quran allows wars to defend Muslims from attacks of enemies, accompanied by message not to exceed the limits (4: 190).

The best way of doing Jihad for protecting the poor or denying slander is by using physical power (biyadih), if we can’t do that, then do jihad with our words, protests, and demonstrations. If we still can’t do that, just do jihad with our heart, feeling sad and praying for the suppressed, and that’s the weakest faith. In relations with global world order at present, a question arises: what kind of jihad is the most effective in fighting against the superpower USA?

Social phenomena of Jihad
We know about Jihad Command (in the period of Soeharto). Laskar Jihad (Soldiers of Jihad) in Ambon and Posi conflicts, Jihad of Islam in Palestine and many others, and the term of “Jihad” may also be related to the group led by Amrozi and Imam Samudera. We, however, are often misguided by external phenomena, so that jihad as a psychomotoric term in religious affairs is misunderstood when observing social realities not comprehensively. The movement of Jihad Command in the era of Soeharto was actually a political project of a intelligent institution (Bakin) since in strengthening the ideology of Pancasila, ideological enemies should be created and then some figures are prepared who can be encouraged to form what seemingly an Islam ideological movement, the Jihad Command.

In practice, later Bakin couldn’t completely control the movement so that it really widespread as a destructive ideological force using the name of Islam. It is rumoured that Hambali, who is at present accused as the intellectual actor of Bali Bomb, was a figure recruited by Bakin, so were Danu Muhamad Hasan and Hispran, who had an office at Jl. Senapati, and lived in Tanah Abang (Ali Murtopo’s “headquarter”). Meanwhile, Soldiers of Jihad, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the movement of Imam Samudra and his friends are impacts of globalisation in which Islamic community as a whole has been treated unfairly by USA (perceived as a part of the Christians), as in Afghanistan, Moro, Iraq, and Palestine. Much of the leaders of the Soldiers of Jihad are veterans of Mujahidin, Afghanistan, and Moro conflicts, and they regard crimes committed by small groups of certain Christians in Ambon and Poso as parts of global conflicts also happening in Palestine, Afghanistan, and South Philippines. Since in the global era enemies don’t fight against each other frontally but they clearly compete with each other, then it is not easy to identify enemies, since often movement using jihad as part of their names are actually supported by intelligent deceivers who regard Islam as an enemy.

The case of Mataharitimoer
The author of underground stories whose book is on your hand now, whose alias is Mataharitimoer tells us through this book how he had expressed himself in the avenues to the truth which are believed to be under the ridla (a kind of sincerity) of God, how he unconsciously had gone far passing avenues of struggles some of which sometimes indeed were felt as bright and correct paths, but other avenues were felt as dark or even as dead-end. It seems that after he had arrived at the end of the avenues, he finally found what he believed as the true path of the truth, encouraging him to write out his experiences in passing the avenues to the truth as guidance for the next generation. I am gladly writing this preface since the avenues were similar to those I’ve known. As long as 10 years in the New Order period, I secretly embraced a hard-line aspiration. My obsession was also on jihad and for some times I participated in some underground discussions. However, my experience of living together in a barrack for about three months with Afghan Mujahiddin, my getting acquaintance with Afghanistan President Sibghatullah Mujaddidi, Chechnya President General Ashlan Mashadov, Nur Misuari MNLF Moro, Luis Farachan for USA dan my visits to Libya, Sudan and Egypt, changed my perspectives on politics, religion, and jihad so that now I become highly moderate in perceiving conflicts and believe that Islam is a blessing for the universe (rahmatan lil`alamin). As a citizen, now I put more emphasis on the ship of Republic of Indonesia than on the room of Islamic community, since if the ship is drowned, the room would be drowned too. Wallahu a`lam bi as sawab.
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Religious and Cultural Biases

The anti-Pancasila discourses actually come from religious and cultural biases. Islam is a pure religion that also gives rise to various cultures, so later Islamic culture and Muslims cultures emerge. Islamic culture is influenced by Islamic teachings, while some Muslim cultures come from Islamic teachings and others come from other cultures, which may in contradiction with Islamic teachings themselves. Culture is concepts, ideas, and beliefs held by the community for a long time and guiding their behaviours in meeting their life necessities.

There is a principle that is easily remembered in this respect, that religion of Islam is pure in terms of mahdlah (directly oriented to God such as fasting) religious services, and that basically religious rites are forbidden except those which are ordered, meanwhile in terms of culture, mu’amalah, basically all societal cultures are allowed, except those which are forbidden (al ashlu fi al `adapt wa al mu`amalah al ibahah hatta takun dall fi buthlanihi). Therefore, in terms of (pure) religon, no creativity allowed for ummah, but in terms of culture, all cultures are indeed areas of creativity. State, sciences (including religious sciences), Pancasila, and constitution are parts of culture. Similarly, Islamic parties, Islamic societal organisations are products of culture. Even the concept of khalifah is a part of Islamic culture, so that character of khulafa rasyidin is different from those of khilafah of Bani Umaayyah and Abbasiyah. Islamic countries may have forms of kingdoms, republics, dynasties, and constitutional kingdoms, depending on the territorial conditions and creativity of the ummahs. Anti-Pancasila ideology is not an Islamic expression; its position is same as that of Communism that is also anti-Pancasila, those ideologies are parts of culture.

Avenues to the Truth
The truth isn’t always clearly seen like the sun, but it can exist in a far and hidden place so that to approach it we should pass the narrow alleys or climb steep hills. A book named Climbing to Allah which is translated form a book titled Madarij as Salikin, written by a famous salaf ulama, Ibn al Qayyim al Jauzy (691-751 Hijriyya, indicates a relation and distance between small and low man with The Most High God as The Source of Truth, so that man has to climb if he wants to approach Him. Result of the climbing can be that the climber becomes a person close to God (min al muqarrabin), or even unite with Him in existence (wahdah al wujud) or only look as if he unites with God (wahdat as Syuhud). His approaching Allah can be seen as a manifestation of man’s awareness to fulfil His call or can be understood as man disposition to approach like a fire that always move upward (taraqqi) since man, as believed by the concept of al Isyraqi, comes from God so that he has divine characters and always eager to long to return to Him.

According to al Jauzi, the spirit of climbing to Allah is within man’s comprehension on God as indicated in surah al Fatihah al Fatihah Iyyaka na`budu wa iyyaka nasta`in (only You we worship and only you we ask help to). Concentration and dependence with feelings of hope and worry) on Allah stimulate man to travel a long distance to meet Allah beloved, missed, and afraid of. Maulana Syekh Yusuf illustrates three avenues that can be passed in the travel, first, conventional avenues by following shariah routes (thariqah al Akhyar/thariqah as syar`i), second, avenue of zikr (thariqah ahl az Zikr), and, three, avenues that are full of difficulties (method of hurting oneself thariqah mujahidat as syaqaa). The long and climbing avenue is not easily passed, so that there are some stations (maqamats) as stairways (madarij) of achievement of the musafirin (travellers).

The long road to Allah is not an easy-straight avenue but it is full of obstacles and traps. Activists of various movements (harakah) mainly those who become victims of repressive rulers are often entrapped by so many misleading traps so that actually they should be seen as mujahidin but we may perceive them as criminals. The distance to the truth is so long that sufis formulate maqamats or stations, from station of tawbah to station of ridla, or maa’rifat or mahabbah. The hardest station for Muslims in general is the first station, the station of tawbah. The true tawbah (tawbah Nasuha) should fulfil three elements, which are (a) regretting the mistakes done in the past, (b) promising not to do the mistakes again, and (c) really not doing the mistakes again. The first two elements are relatively easy, but the third elements often become a hard obstacle for the person who wants to repent so that he can never pass the station.
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Introduction to Stories from Underground: Forbidden Jihad.

Every Muslim has to believe that source of Islam is Al Quran and that Al Quran is a teaching of truth coming from the Most Truth God. Doubting the truth of Al Quran is a form of human stupidity since Al Quran revealed to the earth as a guidance for taqwa (pious) people is a holy book in which no doubt about its truth (la roiba fihi). Al Quran is the perfect truth coming from the Most Perfect God.Avenues to the Truth (1)
Introduction to Stories from Underground: Forbidden Jihad.

The problem that the man that has to absorb the perfect truth is not a perfect creature. Man is a creature who has limitations, even spiritual/psychological tools of man (mind, heart, and conscience) used to apprehend the truth are also unique, so that every person can have different perceptions on the same object, influenced by different ways of thinking, or different psychological situations. Therefore, truth based on man’s perceptions also depends on perspectives used. We possibly know following terms, “mathematical truth”, “logical truth”, “philosophical truth”, “social truth”, and “sufistic truth”. Logical truth can still be divided further since there are mathematical logic, social logic, and heavenly logic. We can try to understand religion based on logical, philosophical, social, and spiritual approaches, with very different outputs. It is not the religion as the object that is different, but the perceptions resulted because of the different approaches.

Truth Levels of Religion
In history of Indonesia’s politics, the implementation of Pancasila as the only foundation had caused continuous conflicts between Islamic organisations and the government, since some of the Islamic societal organisations regarded the implementation of principles Pancasila is a violation on religious beliefs. Some accidents sometime happened in which some Muslim students refused to participate in flag ceremonies, since they regarded giving salutation to a red-and-white flag is a syirik (polytheistic) action. We can see a remnant of this implementation of Pancasila as the only foundation in Indonesia in the case of Abu Bakar Basyir. In fact, the problem arose because of different perceptions; at what level a religion should be regarded as an absolute religion and at what level a religion regarded as not having absolute role. Based on perspective mentioned above, religion can be understood in five levels as follow:

1. Religion of Islam as meant by Allah
When we say that Islam is complete, perfect, holy, high, and nothing exceeds it (al Islamu ya`lu wa la yu`la `alaih), what we really mean by Islam at that level is the teaching of Islam as meant by Alllah himself. At this level, perfect and absolute truth of Islam is contained in the truth of Al Quran’s revelations. At this level, Islam is a concept of teachings contained in the holy book, not according to ulamas, nor according to what written in the books. The statement that Islam is perfect is completely right in this context.

2 Religion of Islam as exemplified by Prophet Muhammad
The concept of Islam is completely perfect and comes from the Most Perfect God. Then man who has to understand it, however, is not a perfect creature, since he has to try to perceive what he see or listen. Between the perfection of Islam and imperfection of man there is a wide gap. Therefore, man often has wrong perception and misunderstands religious teachings. In order to comprehend the perfect truth of Al Quran, examples are required. Muhammad as the messenger of God is an example of the truth of Al Quran, so it is said in a hadith that the Prophet’s akhlaq is Al Quran (kana khuluquhu al Qurân). As an exemplar of Islam, Nabi never did a significant mistake, since he was always under guidance of Allah. Whenever he did a mistake, he was then corrected immediately through Gabriel angel. Correction given to the Prophet is mentioned in Al Quran: 66:1. Therefore, the religion of Islam as exemplified by Prophet Muhammad is also absolutely right. If Al Quran is a theory, then Prophet Muhammad’s behaviours are the practice. In Islamic legal system, the Prophet’s hadith in some cases serve as the explanation of Al Quran, but in other cases serve to establish certain law, complementing Al Quran.

3. The religion of Islam as understood by the Prophet’s companions (shahabahs)
Prophet Muhammad gave examples on how to live rightly under the guidance of Al Quran’s revelations. The people living during his life (called the Prophet’s shahabahs) saw and imitated Prophet Muhammad’s behaviours. The shahabahs, however, had different abilities as ordinary men in perceiving examples given by Prophet Muhammad. Some of them were highly intelligent, while some other were intelligent and less intelligent. In terms of opportunities, some shahabahs were very closed to him, near or together with him almost everyday or every time, while others only met him for a while everyday, some other shahabahs only met him only once a week. Their different frequencies in meeting the Prophet made abilities of shahabahs in understanding the Prophet’s behaviours were also different. Some only imitated his behaviours, but people like Umar bin Chattab, for example, didn’t only imitate what they’ve seen from him but also comprehended the essences of the Messenger’s behaviours. Therefore, in various things Umar often had opinions different from those of others. At this level, religion of Islam is comprehension on the main sources, Al Quran and hadith. The shahabahs tried to understand Al Quran and to understand what exemplified by the Prophet.

Those different comprehensions create not-absolute truth. Religion of Islam at this level has truth that is not absolute, but since they were more closed to the Prophet and motivated by their love to him, comprehension’s of the shahabahs on Islam were more close to the truth. The importance of love of Allah and His prophet was appreciated by the Prophet by saying that “my shahabahs are like stars, you may seek obtain directions from any star” (ashabi ka an nujum, biayyi iqtadaitum ihtadaitum).

4. Religion of Islam as understood by ulamas
After all shahabahs and tabiin has passed away, we only have ulamas to be referred in terms of religious affairs. The ulamas understood Islam not directly from Prophet Muhammad or from his shahabahs, but from Al Quran and hadith and from religious traditions existing in the Islamic community. Therefore, the two sources were interpreted in one way or another. Some ulamas tended to be rationalistic, while some others tended to follow traditions. All opinions resulted from those interpretation also had possibilities to be wrong or right, and the opinions themselves were different and various. Therefore, in the period of early ulamas, various religious mazhabs (schools of thought) were born. In terms of fiqh, there were mazhabs Syafii, Hambali, Hanafi and Maliki, for example. These mazhabs also emerged in other disciplines. Like the shahabahs, some ulamas tended to be philosophy-oriented, while others tended to be tradition-oriented. Ulamas lived in big cities such as Bagdad and Basrah tend to think rationally. They developed method for comprehending religion (usul fiqh) by using a logical approach. They did ijtihad by proposing logical arguments (dalil ‘aqly) in accordance with many demands of big cities (metropolises) in which new problems arose everyday, requiring dynamic responds. Meanwhile, ulamas living in agrarian cities tended to follow religious traditions adopted for a long time ago by subordinating logical arguments. In disciples of fiqh and tafsir (interpretation), these two main groups, the rational ahl ar raâyi ulama group and traditional ahl al atsar ulama group, were evident.

At this level, the process of comprehending religion (Islam) not only developed in terms of law (fiqh), but also in terms of theology (kalam or tawhid), tassawuf, and philosophy. Since the process of comprehending religion (Islam) was interpretative, no absolute truth there. Ulamas even always ended their opinions or beliefs by saying that only Allah knows which opinions were the correct ones, Wallahu a`lamu bis sawab. As noted in the history, sciences in this period developed very rapidly, and at that time almost seven centuries of world history was almost identical with Islamic history, and at the same period, the western world was still in the dark period.

5. Religion of Islam as a tradition of Islamic community
As time goes on, not all Muslims have the opportunity to study Islam from its main sources, Al Quran and hadith, but through religious teachers who having different scientific standards. A lot of people in the past embraced Islam only because their parents or people around them had embraced Islam. At that time, religious comprehension of the community tended to be traditional. Tradition of Islamic communities didn’t always manifest the correct Islamic teachings. It is not impossible that traditions of Islamic communities were in contradiction with the Islamic teachings themselves. Therefore, Muslims should observe traditions critically, good traditions may be maintained, while traditions in contradiction with Islam should be eliminated.
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Despotic is understood as placing something not in its right place, while wise is understood as placing something exactly in its right place. Professional thieves deserve to be imprisoned in accordance with certain law articles, that’s indeed just. It is not wise, I think, if the imprisoned ones are hungry people who are forced to steal foods.

Intelligent people are not always wise people too. Wisdom is only owned by people who are not only intelligent but who also have a wide insight and a lot of experiences. Success may strengthen motivation, but it doesn’t always create wisdom. On the contrary, continuous failures may create a wise character. Therefore, young people are usually strong, swift, and strict but they are not always wise, but older people having a lot experiences, of failures and of successes, are able to act wisely.
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Some of behaviours come from one’s characters, while other behaviours come from his temperament. What are differences between those two? Temperament is the mode of one’s reactions to various stimuli coming from his environment or from within himself. One’s temperament has a close relation with his biopsychology conditions, so it can hardly change and is neutral to good/bad judgements. Meanwhile, character has a close relation with of good/bad judgements of one’s behaviours based on various parameters held by the society. Characters are formed during one‘s life experience, so that it can change. Temperament doesn’t have any ethical implication; meanwhile character often becomes an object of ethical judgements.

Some people may have temperaments that are in contradiction with their own characters. A person can have a bad temperament while his/her character is good. If his temperament is at work, he tends to act negatively. Later he will regret it and ashamed of what he had done, although this bad temperament tends to reappear. Furthermore, a person who has a bad character but has a good temperament is usually able to hide his bad character from others. Deceivers usually have good temperaments but their characters are bad. The worst is a bad-character person who also has a bad temperament.

Permanent characters will form a personality. According to Freud, man’s personality consists of three pillars, which are Id, Ego, and Super Ego, or animal, intellectual, and moral elements. Behavior, in Freud’s opinion, is an interaction among those three pillars. Freud concludes, however, that human is a Homo Volens, a creature who has wishes and that his behaviors are controlled by wishes hidden in his subconscious mind. This conclusion underestimates man’s dignity.

According to Islam, personality is an interaction among soul (nafs), heart (qalb), mind (`aql), and conscience (bashirah) qualities. Personality, in addition to being provided with inborn tendencies and genetic heritage from one’s parents, is also formed through a long process during his lifetime, including internalisation of values, knowledge’s, and experiences in his self. In this perspective, religious faith one obtains from knowledge’s and experiences also enters his personality structure. A Muslim with a strong Muslim personality can’t enjoy the delicious of pork, although it has been cooked in accordance with his taste. A Muslim with a strong Muslim personality can’t enjoy the property obtained through corruption. He also always awakes from his sound sleep if he hasn’t done his Isha prayer yet.
Obviously, every Muslim has a different Muslim personality quality. The quality itself isn’t necessarily constant. Sometime it is firm, intact, and prime. But in other times it can be distorted by influences coming from sources other than his religion.
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What is Love?
Love is one of characters of Allah, the Most Great God. Therefore, within love, there is greatness, the greatness of love. Man is ordered to follow akhlaq of Allah. Regarding love, a person who has a love feeling and can love others is a noble person.

Love, however, has levels. According to Imam al Ghazali, there are four levels of love qualities:

1. At the first level a person only love himself/herself. All goodness only measured based on his/her interests. This is the lowest-quality love.

2. At the second level, a person loves another only as long as the other provides benefits for him/her. If the benefits of love is no longer exist, then the love ends. Love at this level is a “traders’ love” or “transactional love”.

3 At the third level, a person loves another, although he may be not benefited by his beloved one. Love at this level is a noble love.

4 At the fourth level, a person loves true goodness apart from whoever brings the goodness. This is love at the highest level, and they who have this kind of love can love Allah, since Allah is the goodness an sich.
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As mentioned previously, it is old people who are usually able to think and act wisely, but there is a psychology theory stating some characteristics of man in interpersonal communications. For example, there is a person with an important position but people in general don’t respect him, while there is an ordinary person who is socially honourable. Furthermore, there is a intelligent person whose advices never be considered, while there is a person with average intelligence to whom others often consult about various things.

According to a role theory, there are three characteristics of man:
Children. Children don’t understand responsibility, tend to be spoiled, if they ask for something, they want to get it soon, otherwise they will mope or weep and roll over the floor. We can take them as they are.

Adults. They tend to be to the point and understand responsibility. When they think they’re able to do something, they will say so. On the contrary, when they think they’re not able they will say it. If failed in doing their tasks, they would usually ready for the consequences.

The elder people. Dominant things among the elder people among others are understanding and forgiving. They understand flaws of younger people and tend to forgive other’s mistakes.

The problem is that getting older is a certainty, but becoming adult is a choice. We sometimes see a young person whose attitude like his elders (mature), instead, we also sometimes see elder people acting childish.

Strategic Steps in Developing Families of the Nation.
Based on assumption that in its one century old of age (in 2045) the nation of Indonesian will have to had manifested itself to be a nation of sakinah families, strategic steps as continuation of or correction on reforms that should be planned are as follow.

1. Guaranteeing the implementation of good governance. The character of a good governance among others is people participation, arranged by a system to, supervise the governing activities so that information on all things regarding governance can be accessed by the public (transparent), so that not only the window of participation will open but political processes in all strata of the government will proceed in accordance to their schedules, not stagnant. If the system is effective, then a clean government will manifest itself. This has something to do with culture of openness that should be socialised, as a contrast with feudalism that is tending to keep secrets. Javanese feudalistic culture in the new order government has made corruption practices like an iceberg phenomenon, widespread but difficult to prove. Removing feudalistic culture in the government is done by clearly separating state (public) affairs from personal affairs. Secrecy of personal life is respected, but governmental affairs should be things that can be accessed by the public, and it is indeed a right of the public to get informed on them. Regarding family lives, matters between a husband and his wife are secrets “concealed in a closed room” not to be known by other members of the family, but policies and economy on the family should be understood by all members of the family.

2. Enhancing security in the society and defence of all of Republic of Indonesia’s territories. These have something to do with professionalism and dignities of The Police and the Army Forces. Professionalism’s of those two institutions have something to do with education and equipment required. Meanwhile, their dignities have something to do with recruitment and career position guidance systems. Transparent and logical education and recruitment systems will lead to spirit of dedication. On the contrary, education and recruitment systems burdened by corruption, collusion, and nepotism will produce officers who are easily seduced to become oppressors, “Mafia” members, and crime backers. Furthermore, sufficient equipment will enhance personnel self-esteem and effectiveness of tasks in accordance with large amount of population and the total width of all Indonesia’s territories.

3. Enhancing National Economy in a Democratic Way. The government should have a strong will to enhance the national economy through the spirit of siding with common people. National economy policies should make a balance between accepting free trade, as a consequence of globalisation, and protecting national interests. Even USA as a developed country still protects its national economic interests.

4. Enhancing commitment of law enforcement. This should be done by making a balance between improving law apparatuses and indiscriminate law enforcement. We should learn from China in which strict law enforcement on political elite has drastically reduced crime level and has improved economical welfare spectacularly only within a decade. We should develop and strengthen pillars of democracy, and distribute clearly separated tasks and authorities among the governments, representative institutions, and judicature institutions.

5. Determining national educational strategy oriented to be implemented within 50 years from now. It should be admitted that existing generation is a product of wrong education system of the past and that its negative impacts on qualities of human resources will not disappear within the next 10-20 years. China has always been sending its students abroad, although only 10% of them are returning, the rest are still living and working abroad. Chinese immigrants are not regarded as traitors of the country; instead, the emergence of Chinatowns in many countries is an advantage for China’s economy in the global economy system. Meanwhile, India implements an educational strategy in form of providing a huge educational budget only for 10% of the population. As the result, 10% of 1 billion of India’s population or 100 millions people are highly educated human resources, and they are dominant in the skilful workers market in developed countries and in middle-level trades in various countries, meanwhile our human resources are losing in their own country’s competitions and only sending servant abroad. In the period of petrodollar about 30 years ago, Malaysia didn’t use its money to develop buildings but to send their youth abroad to study, while we used up the money for developing “jungles of concrete” in various cities, while budget for education was still 10% from the total national budget. At present, Malaysia is enjoying qualities of their human resources while we are lamenting over qualities of our human resources.

6. Intensifying international diplomacy. As a great nation, Indonesia should often participate in international forums, respond important occurrences around the world, and play an active role in collective efforts of creating world peace. Initiative of Hasyim Muzadi (Chairman of PBNU) to act as a mediator in Thailand conflict should be admittedly praised. The paradigm of placing of ambassadors as a form of respect and exile for senior officials should be replaced by paradigm of diplomacy and forming a new cadre of diplomats. Ambassadors should not necessarily consist of older people, but they may be also consisting of younger people. Ambassadors shouldn’t also always perform “gracefully” but they also may or should become a kind of “salesmen” of domestic products.

7. Continuing National Reconciliation. We should learn from mistakes in the past as an invaluable learning, as a basis for preparing the nation’s future, and then we should dare to determine that from this day our past is closed and from now on all policies should be oriented to future programmes.
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Five Positive Opportunistic Attitudes

In terms of corruption, opportunistic is negative, but Prophet Muhammad introduces us five good opportunistic attitudes. One of the Prophet Muhammad’s hadith said Ightanim khomsan qobla khomsin; Make use five opportunities before other five opportunities come.

1.Hayataka qobla mautika. Your life before your death, use your life as productive as possible, since only as long as one still lives he can invest for his happiness in the day after. When he is dead, he is no longer productive, except for three things: amal jariah (good deeds), useful knowledge’s, and prayers of his pious children. Therefore, while we still live, do good deeds as much as possible, good deeds whose benefits will be durable and enjoyed by a lot of people, for example, building bridges, roads, schools buildings, mosques, and hospitals. Teach your knowledge to others, then as long as others apply your knowledge’s, you will get the rewards. Educate your children to become pious children, since only prayers of pious children that will be certainly granted by God.

2.Syababaka qobla haramika. Your youth before your old age. While you are still young, not forgetful yet, use your youth to study and work hard, since studying in one’s youth is like painting on stones, not easily disappear, while studying in one’s old age is like painting on the water, you will soon forget what you had studied. You should work hard in your youth as a kind of infestation, so that in your old age you will enjoy the fruits of the trees you had planted in your youth. When one becomes forgetful, he will be weak like a child, become stupid like before he went into school.

3.Shihhataka qobla saqamika. Your health before your sickness. Healthy doesn’t only mean enjoyment but also opportunity. When he is healthy, one can do a lot of things, can overcome many troubles and can collect reserves to be used whenever he’s sick. Healthy is an enjoyment that we seldom realise, only after we are sick, we realise that healthy is highly meaningful.

4.Ghinaka qobla faqrika. Having things before losing those things. While you have a lot of things, still rich, not bankrupt yet, use your properties for doing useful things for common people, family, neighbours, and the society in general, since when you get bankrupt will not able to give almost anything, and then you realise the meaning of rich people’s contributions. One of characters of rich people is that they virtually don’t have any necessity and have capabilities to give things. If one has already owned a lot of things but his necessities are more than things he own so that he’s not able to give things to the poor, and instead he take things from them, such a person is actually not a rich person. Therefore, there is a rich person who has a poor heart, and there is a poor person who has a rich heart. A person with a rich heart can give 4000 rupiahs from 5000 rupiahs he owns. Therefore, once again, do a lot of useful things while you’re still rich.

5.Sa`atika qobla dloiqika. Your spare time before your busy time. While you still have a lot of times and opportunities, not in a hurry yet, use those opportunities to do the best things. Opportunity seldom comes twice, so make use of the opportunity immediately. Don’t wrongly choose something and don’t make a wrong decision when the opportunity is still open. A lot of people wrongly use opportunities in times of troubles, ending up in a long regret, brief enjoyments that will lead to continuous miseries. Be aware of the beginning of an opportunity coming to you. Wallahu a`lamu bissawab.
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Java culture recognises supernatural powers. A person with supernatural power is one who has ability to face certain constraints with extraordinary ways, for example, he is invulnerable and can’t be wounded by bullets or sharp weapons, or he can walk on the water. Some of supernatural powers are regarded as coming from power within one’s own self; some others are believed to be inherent in certain things. Those things with supernatural powers are called jimats (charms) from the Arabic word “‘azimat”. Those things are, among others, creeses, rings, and yellow irons. Those who want to get the supernatural power usually collect those kinds of things as much as possible. Political leaders wants charms intended to strengthen their powers, criminals interest in charms intended to cheat their to-be victims, lazy persons desire charms which can be used to obtain properties without working, and coquettish persons look for charms to attract certain people from the other sex.

This way of thinking stressing on “shortcuts” is also implemented by bureaucracy officers who tend to enrich themselves by using “shortcuts”, using certain strategies in manipulating regulations, deviating from rules, or recklessly breaking the rules to gain a lot of money shortly. This practice is called corruption. Those corrupting officers’ focus of attention is how to gain properties as much as possible while they still own authorities, while they still in their positions. Since there is similarity between their way of thinking and way of thinking of those people with supernatural powers used in handling certain constraints in extraordinary ways, then the “skill” of those corrupter is called “charm of opportunity” meaning opportunistic, making use existing opportunities as much as possible while still possessing powers.

Those having the charms of opportunities are intelligent in terms of certain numbers, but they are not intelligent in terms of space and time. They are intelligent in calculating amount of money that they can embezzle, but they are not intelligent in terms of the places that they will have to live in and how long they will be in uncomfortable situations. Just imagine an ex-officer who had the “charm of opportunity”, he may have had 25 houses in Jakarta, billions rupiahs of deposits, but when he achieves the elder ages after getting retired he is sued to be responsible for his “charm of opportunity” he had had when has was in position. In climax, no one of the houses he can live in, since then he has to stay in a small room of a prison for seven years. Imagine, in his elder days he should have been living happily with his grand children, but instead he has to spend his time in a narrow room of a prison.
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“Just” means “placing something or someone in its proper place”, placing wrong people in the group of wrong people and placing right people in the group of right people. Legal justice is usually measured through various legal articles and paragraphs, so that how long a criminal should be punished is determined based on the articles of Criminal Code. However, legal justice should be distinguished from sense of justice. Justice based on Criminal Code doesn’t necessarily guarantee sense of justice.

A chicken thief can be imprisoned for six months, meanwhile a corrupter abusing 100 million rupiahs, equal to price of about twenty thousand chickens, can avoid traps of legal articles, since he is skilful in manipulating those legal articles. Character of justice is balance, so that symbol of a legal institution is a balance. Balance is character of the nature created by the Most Just God. If mankind damage the balance of the nature, then disasters will strike them. Similarly, unjust rulers will have impacts in forms of disasters striking their citizens. Opposite of just is despotic (zalim)

Zalim comes for Arabic dzolama - yadzlimu – dzulmun - dzulumat- dzalim-madzlum whose basic meaning is dark. A despotic person is a person whose behaviours like those of a person in darkness who doesn’t or can’t place someone or something in his/its proper place, for example punishing innocent people, abusing state money, taking other’s wife although he had had his own wife. In daily.
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