Skeptical of U.S. Media, People Turn to al-Jazeera

As a country that the government and its people arguing US invasion of Iraq, it seems making US media to be interested in covering how Indonesian people behaviour on perceiving the war in Iraq through mass media. Washington Post, this time by Ellen Nakashima, reporting Watching the war: a series on how people around the world are perceiving the war in Iraq through their local media. And yes you're right, Indonesian people prefer to choose al-Jazeera better than CNN. "I don't believe all that CNN reports", said Mirta Nugroho, 31, a PR manager.

Related links:
» In New Delhi, Hindus Take A Dim View of America
» In Berlin, TV Bolsters Opposition to Iraq Conflict
» To Young Palestinians, Images Of Suffering Are All Too Familiar
» Mexico's Debate, on A Different Wavelength
» In Japan, a Veteran Sees History Repeat

Letters from the soon to be dead

Some letters collected from Baghdad high schools by the Iraq Peace Team are very touching as i quoted below, so are the others. I wish their future will not end up soon :(

Al-Adamia Secondary School for Girls – Baghdad
March 10th, 2003

Under the threatening of the American government of every day, we live and continue our daily life. We go to school, to work, visiting each other, but still we have the hope of getting over this crisis. God will help us and save our country from this war. If war will arise the coming few days, I might not be able to continue writing my own diary. We don’t know what is going to happen... We might die .. and maybe we are living our last days in life.

I hope that everyone who reads my diary remember me and know that there was an Iraqi girl who had many dreams in her life, but war has destroyed all her dreams and her dreams will never come true.

Thuraya El-Kaissi, age 17

New Release: War Is Suck!

"Only dumb human did war, Evil itself did diplomacy". So, though Evil are bad, they're not dumb. They engaged in diplomacy with God to have the right to fool dumb human to do any bad things. But as stated in Shaikh 'Abdul Qadir al-Jailani's book The Secret of The Secrets (Sirr al-Asrar), God gave Evil the right to do anything to fool human, but they have no ability to make human do the bad things. Only dumb human who thwart their faith (with admission of God) will be fooled. So don't be easily fooled! May God help us. And congratulation to Arif who just expressed his cleverness through his Anti War blog! May God bless us.

Unsent Letter

I've heard it's healthy to write letters to those you have issues with and never send them but write them as if they were reading them right now, so here's mine at it.

Dear ?????

I'm writing because there's something i've always wanted to tell you but i guess i'm too chicken to do it. We've had a great past year hanging out together as friends and i realize i have more than just friend feelings for you. May be you've got that feelings too, but i can never be sure, because the same as mine, "your word" never comes out of your mouth.

Suddenly i feel that you're now keeping your distance farther and farther from me. May be i have done some mistakes to you, or may be you have a new one to hang out with, or may be you have a big problem you don't want to discuss to anyone particularly me. So, that's fine, you have your own life and so do i. May be our close friendship is reaching its ending limit, and it's time for us to become just an ordinary friend. I will find someone who will like me for who i am and want to spend the rest of my life with that person. I know this person isn't you, and never, but it took me this long to realize it. I wish you the best in life.

Indonesia's Muslims pray for peace

Over 500,000 Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) followers turned out at the parade ground inside the Brawijaya Military Command headquarters (Makodam) in Surabaya on Sunday for the largest rally so far in the country against a possible United States attack on Iraq and also to the country's worsening political situation in the face of the 2004 general election.

Separately, still on Sunday, hundreds of Muslims from greater Jakarta, after gathered at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta to listen to a sermon by Muslim preacher Abdullah "Aa Gym" Gymnastiar, the head of the Daarut Tauhid Islamic boarding school in West Java, traveled to the U.S. embassy to hand over a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush. In that letter, Aa Gym warned the President of a further loss of credibility in the eyes of the international community if he continue to insist on forcibly disarming Iraq.

Sajak Rindu
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belum mekar
satu mawar
kumbang menanti
bersemi
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copyright(c)2003, by Farid
@Permata, Kamis, 27 Februari 2003 20:55 WIB

Early Edition a la Deddy Corbuzier

"PRESIDEN MEGAWATI HARUS TEGAS Menolak Rencana Serangan AS ke Irak" was yesterday's (Sunday 23/02/2003) headline of Indonesian daily Kompas, which been perfectly predicted since a week ago by an Indonesian illusionist and mentalist, Deddy Corbuzier. Previously, Corbuzier had recorded his prediction of yesterday's headline of a daily to an audio cassette and then kept it untouched since February 16^th 2003. And yesterday, he proved it and succesfully demonstrated such unique and unimaginable attraction in Parkir Timur, Senayan, Jakarta.

OK, you're absolutely right, Deddy. So what's your next plan? --you should have been predicted your next plan a week ago, right? :)-- What about publishing an Early Edition a la Deddy Corbuzier? :))

SMS-POS: Send 'Real Greeting Cards' From SMS

New feature from PT Pos Indonesia: just send some short code through sms (short message service), whuzzz.... and your greeting cards will be sent to your destination address. So efficient, right? :)

Indonesian Literature Enlightened?

The new era of Indonesian young woman writers might have just started since around the last 5 years. It began by the appearance of a controversial novel Saman written by Ayu Utami (1998), because of her courage on demonstrating political repression, religion intolerance, and woman sexuality. Some pros praised her unpretend depiction on those 'taboo'-things, while some cons critisized it.

And then some other young woman writers come out from their hiding place and succesfully enliven Indonesian literature such as Fira Basuki (Trilogy Novels: Jendela-Jendela, Pintu, and Atap), Dewi 'Dee' Lestari (Supernova), Djenar Maesa Ayu (Kumpulan Cerpen: Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet), Violetta Simatupang (Kumpulan Puisi: Anak-Anak Vampir), and many more.

10 Februari
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sepanjang malam seseorang mendengar
erangan napas bintang-bintang
lagu melagu menggubah harmonisasi
air jernih yang turun ke daun-daun hijau
melintasi kabut yang sedang bersujud
abaikan dingin yang menggenggam
tangannya tanpa sadar

untuk sedetik dari detik berikutnya
lengkung cakrawala tanggalkan jubah hitamnya
telanjang hadapi hari berani
ajak seluruh alam mencipta senyuman
hingga seluruh matahari kembali memadamkannya

sebuah belukar tangan menengadah
akarnya serabut memeluk bumi
yang tersesat di tengah galaksi
ambangkan serapah serupa do'a
namaku dalam namamu, namamu dalam namaku
gelapku adalah gelapmu, terangku adalah terangmu
kamu aku satu
untuk selamanya
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copyright(c)2003, by Farid
@Petojo, Senin, 03 Februari 2003 23:15 WIB

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