Memory: 4th of July 2012

https://www.tumblr.com/cintokowati/135613472058/memory-4th-of-july-2012

Learning Is the Most Celebrated Neglected Activity in the Workplace

Speaks right to me

USIPP Day 4

Our first agenda today were visiting the Office of DKI Jakarta’s Governor. While waiting for meeting time, we visited Museum National popularly known as Museum Gajah which is located nearby the office. Though I have come to Jakarta many times, that was my first time to visit this museum. The story behind the name of Museum gajah is that, right in front of the building, they have an Elephant (Gajah) statue. The bronze statue itself was a gift from Thailand’s King when he was visited Indonesia in President Soekarno’s Era. We did not have much time, thus we were only seeing the first and second floor of the main building. The first floor consist of statue of Indonesia’s cultural figures made by stone such as Hindu’s Gods, etc. In the upstair, they have a gold museum which is relatively new.

After that, we went to the Governor office where the Vice Governor of Tourism and Culture, Mr. Sukerti Martono, greeted us. We had a nice lunch there and continued our visitation to the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi). It was impressive. Judge Harjono basicly explained the authority of Constitusional Court

1. Settle the dispute dealing with authority between state’s body (Lembaga Negara).

2. Judicial Review.

3. Dealing with dissolution of political party.

4. Election issues.

5. Involving with impeachment of the President.

He also mentioned that Pancasila is a part of the Preambule and is not subject to be changed. It is the articles that are subject to be changed. Furthermore, he elaborated how the Constitutional Court keeps their body clean from corruption, bribery, and such. Here are some of the explanations:

1. They have 9 judges which 3 of them are appointed by the President, 3 more are appointed by Parliament (DPR), and the rest are appointed by the Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung).

2. Most of the judges have academic background, which away from politics/ briberies.

3. When the Constitutional Court was built, there was no significant political power and that was a good environment to grow.

 

Jakarta, July 7, 2012

USIPP Day 3

Today we have pretty tight schedule. We visited some official offices such as the Ministry of Higher Education (DIKTI), Forum for Interfaith Discussion (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama-FKUB), Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and the last but not least one was Muhammadiyah.

The first visitation was to DIKTI where Mr. Purwanto, the Secretary of DIKTI welcomed us and kindly explained about the roles of DIKTI in order to ensure the achievement of the quality standard of higher education in all over Indonesia. Furthermore, to internationalize (to make the world acknowledge Indonesian’s univerties or education). they have several programs like a joint program with USA which called DIKTI Fullbright Scholarship Program, Sandwich Program which offers academic staff to experience student exchange program for 4 months), and SAMI (Academic Mobility) for PhD to visit overseas universities or to conduct a joint research.

Next, we went to FKUB and were warmly welcomed by several figures from each different religion in Indonesia. FKUB has 21 members from 6 religions, they are: Islam, Christianity, Protestant, Budhism, Hindu, Kong Hu Chu. FKUB exerts 5 main tasks as stated below:

1. Conduct the interfaith dialog.
2. Welcome aspirations from people of Indonesia.
3. Deliver the aspiration to the government.
4. Socialization of policies in regard to religion.
5. Recommend the worship place (rumah ibadah).

The different that FKUB felt in regard to the New Order Era and today is that in the New Order, you had top-down approach. According to FKUB, what was happening in Indonesia regarding chaotic situation which involved religion actually isn’t merely because of different religions we have. There are some parties who stir the situation to gain political power or personal interest.

The discussion in FKUB was very lively and enlightening. Not only the USIPP’s participants but also the FKUB members themselves benefited from the discussion. They were pretty excited to ask what is going with the Moslem population in United States, how the US government protect each individualto practising their beliefs, or how the US perceptions regarding religious pluralism in Indonesia, and so on. The discussion improved our (both side) understandings about each other perceptions and clarifying things in regard to religious pluralism in US and Indonesia. This is vital because US is a significant player in the world including the one who play a role in Palestine which is a very sensitive issue for Islamic-populated country such as Indonesia.

In NU, we have Prof. Zaki Mubarak as the spekaer along with other 2 or 3 persons. NU is the oldest and the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia which embracing the local cultures in preaching Islamic teachings. They believe that their position is in between the hardliner and the liberalist. According to them, the hardliner uses only “hard verses” and leaves the soft one. Meanwhile the liberalist is quite the opposite. Thus NU try to redirect them by providing a complete verses in Al-qur’an along with As-Sunah and Ijtihad in order to give a comprehensive understanding.

NU’s preaching methods is actually similar with Wali Songo’s (9 Saints) in Central Java’s coastal areas. They proclaimed that even (believe it or not) the founding fathers and the leader of NU itself was decendants from Wali Songo. This is interesting because there was a long debate in matter of whether Wali Songo are Chinese. However, the politic condition in that time, make it impossible to acknowledged the truth. In that time, there was a discrimination related to Chinese especially in Soeharto Era. That explains why almost all Chinese in Indonesia have their Indonesian’s name beside their Chinese one. Interestingly, if the claim of NU’s members is true (that their leaders are decendant from Wali Songo), then it may be true that Wali Songo is the Chinese decendant because as we know, the former Presdident Abdurrahman Wahid was the leader of NU and he was Chinese. Well, it still needs to be clarify with the historical evidents though.

The last destination was Muhammadiyah. Muhammadiyah is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia based on the amount of members. The provide four major services to the community such as:

1. Education: Muhammadiyah currently operated more than 14.000 schools and higher education institutions in all over Indonesia ranging from elementary schools to universities. In some places such as Palangkaraya and Nusa Tenggara, more than 70% of their students are non-moslem students. For those students, they provide them with religion study based on their own religion. This is proven that Muhammadiyah embraces differences in religions and tolerant toward others.
2. Health services by building hospitals and clinics in alll over Indonesia.
3. Economic empowerment through microfinancing, including bank.
4. Disaster management and rescue.

You must  be wondering how they generate the money to conduct all of their agendas which requires a huge funding. Generally, they have 3 main sources of fund as below:

1. Member’s donation
2. Partnership with other Non or Islamic organizations.
3. Profit from the schools, universities, institutes, and hospitals.

Responding on Ahmadiyah issue, Muhammadiyah said that actually Muhammadiyah’s leader has a strong relationship with Ahmad Ghulam who later become the leader of Ahmadiyah. There was also a hospital in West Java owned by Ahmadiyah which only want to be sold to Muhammadiyah. I just found out that in 1932, Muhammadiyah has issued a Fatwa stated that Ahmadiyah is not Islam but they FORBID ummah to conducted any  violantion to Ahmadiyah and encouraged a peace dialog with Ahmadiyah.

In conclusion, we may see that in some cases, mass media plays a big role on blowing up a certain issue. Like in the case, we saw that Ahmadiyah has been existing since a long time ago yet the issue itself just came up recently.

 

Jakarta, June 6, 2012

USIPP Day 2

The journey of USIPP 2012 has just actually begun today. I and Shannon were woke up early this morning and had a nice conversation. I really appreciate that. We started the day at 7 am with breakfast then an hour later we took a campuss bus to UI’s library. They have an impressive library, all in one. It is a new and the only library in UI. They have like 8 floors, the two-last floor are used occasionally for meeting or official event hold by the campuss. In the first floor, they have “times” bookstore, travel agency office, tupperware and kitchen stuffs, the cinema, the bank, music studio, and they also have starbucks!! Yes, they seems like having a mall inside of their library. Wow!

 

Worth to be noted that they also have some old documents like the old testament which written in Old Ducth, Lontar (made from leaves and covered by two slices of wood) written in Balinese or Old Javanese about ceremonial thing in Bali, and the last one (that they showed us) was the copy book of Chinese 3 Empires.

Mr. Junaedi, the Head of International Office, was kind enough to give us a mini tour. The last room to visit was the “Meditation Room”, yes that’s how I call it. It’s a place of 100 rooms to “seriously” work on your dissertation, reseach paper, etc. Doctoral students and lecturers are allowed to book the room for 3 months.

 

The rest of the day was filled with two lectures from Prof. Maswadi Rauf and Mr. Muhammad Fuadi, continued with a discussion with religion-affiliated student’s organizations, and we end the day with shopping session in Margo City.

 

I’m going to discuss a little about our discussion and lectures today. So Prof. Maswadi started the lecture regarding Democratic Society in Indonesia: The Issues and Challenges. He went through a brief history of democracy in Indonesia to a lively discussion about the true meaning of freedom, individual democratization, and Special Region of Yogyakarta case. There was an interesting issue on how we define the so called “public interest”? Is it the interest of the majority people? If the answer is yes, then how can we believe that  democracy not come in to majority rule?

He personnaly thinks that a freedom should not violate other’s interest (either public or individual one). The interesting thing is, how can we ensure that everyone doesn’t has a conflict of interest? Cause if they do, then it gets hard not to confront other’s interest.

Regarding the Special Region of Yogyakarta matter, he stated that we should distinguish the role of Sultan and Governor. His opinion is that the Sultan can be a symbol of culture, meanwhile the Governor has to play a political role. So we do have to hold an election to determine who’s gonna be our political leader. This issue reminds me to my previous discussion with a political and science lecturer in UGM. She told me that the legal status itself is being questioned since in the post-independence day’s agreement between President Soekarno and Sultan HB IX, it stated the specific name of a person that is Sultan HB IX, not only Sultan of Yogyakarta or something like that. So, does the agreement also prevail for his next generation?

 

My response was “why don’t we just have the election and the Sultan can also participate in it, can’t he? So if people really want him to be their leader, they’ll definately know who’s to vote.”

And her answer was, “the case is, the Sultan is not elected. They are inherited.”

Well, I was sort of “hmm..that can be true. nice answer.” but then now, I’ll ask more, “We don’t vote for the Sultan’s position, we vote for the Governor. And the Sultan will still be the Sultan.”

It MUST be noted that my responses don’t mean that I pick a side. I’m just trying to make sense of the matter..

 

The second discussion by Mr. Muhammad Fuadi was about the role of Muhammadiyah and NU, the two biggest Islamic organizations in Indonesia. It gave us some interesting informations related to those two, like I just notice that we don’t have many schools or hospitals under the name of NU but we do have some under Muhammadiyah. In short, Muhammadiyah tends to purify the Islamic teachings from cultural values that is not relevant to Islam, knownly as reformist. Meanwhile NU is more embracing the cultural side. He also went through about Alm. Abdurrahman Wahid’s idea on Islam in Indonesia. Then continued with Q&A session.

The last one, we had a fruitful discussion with students from many religion’s organization in UI which comprises of KMHD (Keluarga Mahasiswa Hindu Dharma), KMKUI (Keluarga Mahasiswa  Katolik UI), Islam, and Kristen. Unfortunately, we didn’t have Buddhism but it was quite interesting topic we discussed though, such as the Lady Gaga (L) matters, their activities, and such. I was also asking about the experience whether they had been intolerated in any ways by other religion’s believer. And the answer was pretty sad to me cause unfortunately, we still preserve the intolerant attitute toward differences including in religion. Like it or not, a research conducted by Australian researcher showed that some schools, public as well as private, still practising “unrealized-intolerant-attitude” toward their students, like for some schools they require their student to wear hijab for example though they are not moslem, or Christian school ask their student to take a class on Christianity, or such. Those cases shows that we need to change our early education if we would like to make a change for Indonesia especially regarding tolerance toward others. Sadly, the religion’ teachers do play a part on this matter. We need a  more formal action, could be from the Government. And this is a true story conveyed by the Hindu student, she said that when she was in the elementary school, her friend making fun of her belief by saying, “you are worshiping a stone.”

 

That was really mean, in my opinion. and a kid said that. Something really need to change.

Well, that’s all for today. Can’t wait what they have for us tomorrow! Gotta get some sleep. Nite all! 😉

 

Jakarta, June 5, 2012

USIPP Day 1

USIPP 2012 is officially started today’s evening with a delicious opening dinner at a restaurant in UI. I and Gita were picked up at the Soekarno-Hatta International airport by two student volunteers from Universitas Indonesia namely Arum (Psychology 2010) and Widya (English Literature 2008) at around 16.00 wib. Despite of some misunderstandings at pre-departure, everything was going pretty well today. They took us to Wisma Makara, inside the complex of Universitas Indonesia, Depok. We had an hour free time, well, actually more to prepare ourselves for the dinner. In this program, we will be paired with the US partners and live in the same room. One room for two. Really nice to get to know each other better. Mine is Shannon Cassidy, a sophomore of Social and Political Sciences from Lehigh University. Oh ya, I get to inform that for this year we have Universitas Indonesia (Ola and Ui), Universitas Gadjah Mada (Cindhi and Gita), and Lehigh University (Shannon, Ellie, Theresa, Angela). Yeaaa finally I memorize their name!!!!

That was the only agenda we have today. The real step is only about to begin…

Jakarta, June 4th, 2012

A Peace Poem by Sadako Kurihara

I would be a witness for Hiroshima
by Sadako Kurihara

I wish, as a survivor,
To be a real human being;
Besides, as a poor mother,
Fearing a day when the blue sky
Above the red- cheeked children
And those thousands with promising futures
And now, to be repeated at the nation’s cost,
I resolved to shed tears supposed to be shed on dead bodies,
Afresh for those people living now,
Declaring against all war, first of all.
Even if I should perchance be punished under a disgraceful name
From a mother’s protest against death for her own son’s sake,
I should never dare to hide myself, never!
Because the day was too much impressed on my retina,
the hellish day of the fatal blaze.

It was August 6th in 1945,
At an early hour of the day;
Men and women were to start their daily work,
When unexpectedly
The city and all were blown away;
Blistered hideously, each and all;
The seven rivers were filled with naked corpse.

Supposing there is a tale of the inferno
Which a man caught a glipse once,
And happen to warm me of its horror
To be called back by the Lord of inferno,
The moment he tells it to someone else,
I would go wherever it is, as a witness of the Hiroshima Tragedy,
That I might proclaim its misery;
I would sing for my life
“NO MORE WARS ON THE EARTH!”

Rewrote from Hiroshima Peace Concert and Poems,
August 6th, 2011, Hiroshima.

Aku tertarik untuk menulis ulang puisi ini karena pemilihan kata2nya yang menarik,
well, emang sih naskah aslinya dalam bahasa Jepang. Jadi aku yakin, aslinya lebih menarik dan menyayat hati.
Awalnya aku pikir, puisi ini ditulis oleh Sadako Sasaki, gadis yang meninggal pada usia 12 tahun karena penyakit leukimia gara2 terkena bom atom 66 tahun silam. Tapi ternyata beda oorang, walopun penulis puisi diatas juga merupakan survivor dari atomic bomb atau yang lebih dikenal dengan nama “hibakusha” di Jepang.
Kisah Sadako dan paper crane alias origami burung sangat terkenal disini (I supposed di seluruh dunia juga).
Jadi ada mitos yang mengatakan bahwa jika kita berhasil membuat paper crane sebanyak 1000 buah,
maka keinginan kita akan terkabul. Nah, sebelum menutup usia, Sadako berusaha membuat 1000 buah paper crane. Namun berdasarkan sumber yang aku baca di wikipedia, ia tidak berhasil menggenapinya karena keterbatasan kertas di rumah sakit tempat ia dirawat.
Semenjak itu, paper crane dilambangkan sebagai simbol perdamaian.
Dan  di Genbaku Domu alias Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, dibangun sebuah monumen anak- anak atau monumen Sadako. Di sekitar monumen ini, dapat kita temukan bangunan yang digunakan untuk meletakkan ribuan paper crane yang dibuat oleh siapapun yang menghargai perdamaian.
Semoga semangat perdamaian terus menyala dan menyebar..hingga tak ada lagi peperangan di muka bumi.
🙂

paper crane made by me :p
“Fly and spread peace to all over the world”

Tottori: a beautiful countryside of Japan

Whoaaa tak terasa 4 bulan sudah tinggal di negeri Sakura. What a wonderful life!

Being a ryuugakusei was one of the best thing I could ever wish for.

Bagaimana tidak??

Kami berkesempatan jalan2 GRATIS ke Tottori Prefecture tanpa keluar biaya sepeser pun. Tinggal bawa badan & kamera! Hehehehee.

Jadi gini ceritanya, biro pariwisata pemerintah Jepang khawatir dengan menurunnya jumlah wisatawan di Jepang gara2 kasus nuklir kemarin..dan mereka juga pengen improve objek wisata di masing2 prefecture.

Jadi bisa dibilang tour ini sekaligus buat promosi objek2 wisata yang belum terlalu dikenal secara Internasional.

Tottori is a nice countryside of Japan. That’s my impression during this tour.

Sepanjang perjalanan, bus kami melaju melewati pengunungan2..desa2..countryside gitu lah yang jumlah penduduknya aja jarang2.

Baru kali ini liat sawah begitu luas di Jepang. Gara2 tour ini aku jadi bisa liat sisi lain dari negara super high tech ini. Ureshiiii!!!!

Pada dasarnya aku emang suka banget kan ya sama nature, jadi pas banget lah. Rasanya eman2 kalo tidur di sepanjang perjalanan. Banyak hutan..pohon2 ijo..masih alami bener deh ini daerah! 🙂

Well, tour ini diadakan selama 2 hari dari tanggal 23-24 Juli. Pagi2 kami berangkat dari kampus HUE menuju Tottori, makan waktu sekitar 3 jam.

Destinasi pertama adalah MAKAN SIANG! Hihihihiii

Kami makan siang di Hiruzen. Bangunannya kayak castle gitu (though it’s not). Ini nih fotonya

Tempat ini semacam toko oleh2 dan souvenir gitu. Di lantai 2, ada restorannya dan kayaknya sih tempat ini sering dijadikan persinggahan bus2 wisata gitu.

Makan siang pertama adalah yakisoba (yaki=goreng, soba=mie jepang). Tenang, tidak mengandung babi kok..udah tanya sama bapak ketua panitianya. Hehehe.

Maklum, di sini jadi sering paranoid. Musti make sure kalo makanan yang disajikan ndak ada babinya. Walopun sebenarnya di awal, kami udah disuru ngisi form termasuk makanan apa yang ga bole dimakan sih….

Hmm..setelah perut kenyang, kami melanjutkan perjalanan ke sweet land takara. cuma liat2 gimana produksi kue khas Jepang. Abis itu lanjut ke kota Kurayoshi. Bagi para pecinta drama Korea, ada yang tau ga “Athena”??

Kurayoshi ini adalah lokasi syutingnya looohhh..

Temen2ku yang Korea langsung bilang, “Oppa..Oppa..” begitu liat poster aktornya – -“. Hahahaha

Well, aku sih ga tau..jadi yo biasa wae. Hehehe

Menurutku, Kurayoshi mirip sama Kurashiki..kecuali the fact that in Kurashiki ada kanalnya.

Kota ini isinya toko2 tua bergaya Jepang..old Japanese gitulah..

Berdinding putih dan sebagian kayu.

Di Kurayoshi ada 1 temple yang menarik dan baru pertama ku lihat selama di Jepang. Ternyata ini temple Hindu. Katanya sih..banyak siswa2 sekolah yang datang ke temple ini pas mau ujian, biar dapet nilai bagus atau diterima di universitas yang diinginkan. This is the picture,, cekidot!

Seru sih kotanya. Bukan karena tempat ini adalah lokasi syutingnya Athena, tapi karena di sini kita bisa ngeliat  kayak gimana sih kota2 di Jepang jaman dahulu kala. Kerasa banget Jepangnya.

Abis dari kota tua ini, bus meluncur ke tempat peristirahatan sementara kami (baca: hotel). Maaf, bahasa saya amburadul karena kelaparan T.T huhuhuu

Anyway, jangan dikira tour kami hari ini berakhir di sini. Tour yang sebenarnya malah baru saja dimulai.

Hotel Blanc Art di daerah Misasa ini menawarkan kenikmatan, halah, maksud saya fasilitas yang paling menarik selama tour ini. This is the best part sodaraa2!!!

Penasaran??

Apakah itu??

ONSEN alias Hot Spring alias Pemandian Air Hangat yang sumber mata airnya langsung dari gunung.

Jadi didaerah Misasa ini terkenal dengan onsen-nya. Duuuhhhh, nikmat banget deh mandi di onsen.

Sayangnya, fotonya ga bisa diupload disini. Hahahahaaa..

Ooohh!! Baru inget, ada 1 foto yang sudah lulus sensor. Nih diaa..

Ini onsen khusus buat kaki, public onsen and free!!

Di sekitar daerah ini ada toko2 yang bangunannya juga khas Jepang. Lebih asyik lagi, pas malam, banyak yang jalan2 pakai yukata (kalo ke onsen pakai semacam yukata gitu).

Uuuhhhhh berasa Jepang banget. Love it Love it Love it!!!! A looootttttt!!!!

Daerah Misasa ini juga masih virgin alias alami. Deket hotel, ada sungai yang airnya jernih. Seandainya aku menetap di Jepang, mungkin tempat ini bakal jadi salah satu tempat refreshing favoritku 🙂

Gini nih suasana malam di Misasa 🙂

Oh ya, ruangan hotel ini juga Jepang banget. Kayak gini nih..

I Love Misasa ❤

Temenku yang orang Polandia aja sampai ketagihan onsen-an mulu. Hehehe.

Banyak banget kejadian seru di Misasa. For me, this part was the best one! 😉

Next day, jadwalnya ke Museum Aoyama Gosho dan Mizuki Shigeru Museum.

Bagi pecinta komik, mungkin hari ke-2 ini lebih menyenangkan.

Nih foto pas di museum detective conan.

Seperti namanya, museum ini tentu saja bercerita banyak tentang Conan dan penciptanya, Aoyama Gosho. Bagiku, museum ini cukup menarik. Ada salah satu bagian dimana kita bisa ngeliat trik2 yang ada di komik Conan and it really works! Ga cuma mengada2, 4 jempol deh buat Mr. Aoyama Gosho.

Kedua foto diatas diambil di sepanjang jalan Mizuki Shigeru dan di dalem museum. Well, di dalem museum, ada bagian yang ndak bole difoto juga sih. Tapi ini bagian yang diperbolehkan kok! 😀

Menurutku, tempat ini juga seru. Banyak yang bisa dieksplore dan khususnya yang suka berfoto2, banyak patung yang bisa diajak foto :p wkwkwk

Oh ya, museum Mizuki Shigeru ini isinya hantu2 semua. Jadi ada komik yang ceritanya hantu2 gitu. Orang Jepang bilang sih Yokai (demon). Nek menurutku, mereka yokai yang kawaaiiii…

Heheheheheheee

Intinya Tottori layak untuk dikunjungi. Terutama buat yang suka alam, hot spring, dan suka sama bangunan2 tua Jepang. Sooo..next time you visit Japan, make sure to put this place as one of your destination!! ^^

For Japan’s Tourism Bureau who prepared everything for this trip, arigatou gozaimashita ^^

If you are interested in visiting Totttori, here is the link http://yokoso.pref.tottori.jp/dd.aspx?menuid=2857. Also available in English 😉

Is it a burden?

“Rasanya aneh”, kataku.

“Hm? Apanya?”, ia mengernyit memandangku, penuh tanda tanya.

Kupalingkan wajahku. “Aneh ketika terlalu banyak kebaikan datang padamu tanpa kau bisa membalasnya. Tanpa kau punya daya untuk menolaknya. Somehow it feels like a burden. Everywhere you go, it comes along. Isn’t it a bit scary?”

Mataku masih menerawang melewati rimbunan daun momiji yang mulai berubah warna, pertanda musim gugur mulai menyapa.

“Dan mengapa bidadariku ini merasa demikian?”, godanya.

“Kamu pernah nolong seseorang?”, ia melanjutkan dengan nada santai. Tangannya tak lepas dari kegemarannya bermain oli. “Em”, aku mengangguk.

“Pernah kamu minta imbalan? Balasan?”

“Nope“

“Lalu apa tujuanmu? Kenapa kamu nolong orang lain?”

“Why not? Selama aku bisa.”

“See? You don’t even need any reason to help others. So do they.“

Ah..matanya yang teduh memandangku. “Kamu pengen bales kebaikan mereka?”, lanjutnya.

“Sure, with all I have“, jawabku penuh keyakinan.

“Leave all that burdens behind and just focus on what you are doing“, ucapnya perlahan..penuh penekanan. “Give all you have to achieve what they help you to. Itu cara membalas kebaikan mereka”.

Bibir indahnya melengkungkan sebuah senyuman. Hangat. Damai.

**

Ah..dia benar. Batinku.

Saat ini yang bisa kulakukan hanyalah menghargai perpanjangan tangan Tuhan dengan melakukan yang terbaik.

Menjaga kepercayaan dan amanah mereka.

Tak ingin aku menyaksikan kekecewaan pada raut wajah mereka, bahkan sebersit pun ku tak ingin.

Ah..tapi dia tak tau.

Dia tak tau bagaimana rasanya berhutang budi. Menghutang untuk suatu hal yang dapat kuusahakan sendiri, meski dengan tertatih. Meski langkah ini akan terasa lebih berat.

Namun setidaknya aku masih bisa berdiri dengan kakiku sendiri. Masih bisa menegakkan kepala dan tersenyum dengan bangga, “Hei, lihatlah betapa tangguhnya aku. Meski pas-pasan tapi mampu bertahan!”.

Apakah harga diri yang ku jaga?

Ataukah diriku yang jumawa?

Apapun alasannya, I would never be the same.

Layaknya tanah yang basah, setiap jejak akan meninggalkan bekas. Aku berharap jejak ini, setapak demi setapak, akan mengantarkanku pada kebaikan. Ini jalan-Nya. Pastilah yang terbaik adanya.

Ah..dia benar. Pertolongan bukan senantiasa menjadi beban. Hanyalah uluran tangan saat kau sedikit limbung dan hendak roboh. Setelah kau cukup kuat, maka larilah dengan tenagamu sendiri.

Jadikan tangan yang tadinya terulur untukmu, kini menepuk pundakmu dengan bangga.

Hanya itulah harga pelunasan yang pantas untuk sebuah hutang budi.

Aku Cinta tapi Tak Tahu Apa-apa

Sejak pagi tadi, Hiroshima diguyur hujan tanpa henti.

Bersenjatakan payung di tangan, aku berangkat dengan gagah berani menuju kampus HUE yang berada di puncak bukit sana. Hari ini aku cuma punya 1 kelas, Japanese History & Culture. Semuanya bisa dibilang berjalan dengan normal, selain 10 menit keterlambatan yang didalangi oleh sang Profesor dengan alasan hujan. Yah, itupun masih termasuk wajar, bukan?

Kelas dimulai dengan presentasi yang dibawakan oleh Kang mas KVB mengenai Ancient Japan.

Mr. S, sang Profesor juga bersikap seperti biasanya. Mengajukan pertanyaan- pertanyaan menarik di sela- sela presentasi.

Cukuplah untuk membuat kami berpikir keras sampai njedot- jedotin kepala untuk mengeluarkan sumbat yang mungkin menutupi kecemerlangan otak kami. Karena sedari tadi, sang Profesor tetap saja meminta jawaban yang lain.

Yang keluar selalu saja, “ya, itu juga bisa menjadi salah satu penjelasan. Tapi apa kira- kira yang menyebabkan Budhism diperkenalkan di Jepang?”

Well, setelah diskusi panjang lebar, akhirnya mbak M berhasil “menebak” secuil clue atas jawaban yang dimaksud “writing system”. Eww..bukan ini yang mau saya ceritakan. Cut!

Diskusi lain pun kembali tercipta. dan aku pun kembali melamun. hehe (nggak ding)

Presentasi terus berjalan, slide terus berganti. Hingga sampai di satu slide yang menyatakan di Jaman (aku lupa), orang- orang menganggap Chicken atau yang lebih tenar dengan nama Ayam di Indonesia, sebagai binatang suci.

Lha mas KVB ini dengan polosnya berkata, “sejujurnya saya belum baca pembahasan tentang hal ini.”

Kemudian sang Profesor pun menjelaskan sedikit terkait hal tersebut.

Entah sedikit penasaran atau bagaimana, mbak M menuliskan sesuatu di kertasnya kemudian disodorkan ke arahku.

Kalo ditranslatekan kira- kira begini bunyinya: (1) “kayak babi di kebudayaanmu dianggap sebagai binatang yang buruk & kurang beruntung. (2) Apakah budayamu juga punya binatang yang dianggapp suci?”

Aku pun tersenyum, dan bales nulis: (1) “Nggak. (2) No. Eehh..ada ding. di kebudayaan Jawa, kami punya semacam keluarga keraton yang menganggap kerbau itu binatang suci.”

Dia pun makin tertarik dengan babi thing, “terus kenapa kamu ga makan babi?”

“apa yang mereka lakukan dengan kerbau itu?”

Aku tulis lagi, “karena alasan agama. sebagian orang Indonesia makan kok”. dan sebelum aku menjawab masalah si kerbau, dia nanya lagi tentang si babi.

“kenapa agamamu ga mengijinkan kamu makan babi?”

“karena disebutkan di Al-qur’an. dan dengan pertimbangan kesehatan.” aku pun teringat dengan reasoning yang diberikan dalam sebuah diskusi, aku lupa tepatnya. tapi aku menambahkan, “pertimbangannya mungkin karena babi hidup di tempat kotor, jorok, & bau” serta “ada semacam cacing pita atau sumber penyakit yang bisa hidup di dalam daging babi”.

Diskusi yang diprakarsai oleh Profesor pun makin sengit dan menuntut perhatian penuh dari kami berdua, hingga akhirnya memadamkan diskusi private kami. Hanya sejenak. Karena kemudian ia menulis, “kita akan selesaikan ini nanti seusai kelas”.

Dia sangat tertarik dengan perdebatan ini. I can tell.

(bel kampus bernyanyi..teng tong teng)

Selesai berkemas, kami keluar ruangan.

Dia pun makin gencar berargumen, “irrasional. sapi pun hidup di tempat yang kotor & ayam makan kotoran babi. apakah agamamu mengijinkan hal itu?

Terus terang aku hanya mengetahui 2 considerations itu tadi dan tidak mungkin mengajukan argumentasi “karena aku percaya perintah & larangan Tuhanku adalah demi kebaikanku. Meskipun mungkin saat ini aku belum tau reasoning dibalik larangan itu, tapi pasti suatu saat nanti akan terbuka bahwa itu memang demi kebaikanku. seperti dalam kasus cacing pita dalam daging babi.”

Rasanya mustahil untuk memberikan alasan yang berlandaskan “faith” untuk orang semacam ini. Orang yang menganggap segala sesuatu harus bisa dinalar oleh logika. Aku juga harus menggelontorkan serangan balik yang logis untuk meredakan pertanyaannya. Untuk membuatnya tersadar, atau bahkan sekedar mengangguk dan berkata “oohh..”.

Sayangnya aku sangat memalukan.

Aku belum mampu menyuguhkan jawaban yang memuaskan, yang tidak bisa ditentang oleh logikanya.

Hiroshima masih bermandikan hujan.

dan hatiku pun turut menangis karena kebodohanku. Aku gagal mempertahankan agamaku.

Aku sangat malu. Mengaku cinta, tapi tak tahu apa- apa tentang diri-Nya.

Sedangkan saat kita mencintai keturunan adam-hawa yang lain, dengan segenap hati dan seluruh daya upaya dikerahkan untuk mengenalnya sebaik mungkin. Bagaimana mungkin aku tak mengenal Penciptaku dengan baik??

Merugi sekali umurku ini.

Aku benar- benar tertampar dengan pertanyaan temanku itu.

Sepanjang perjalanan pulang, aku terus melangkah maju. Tapi pikiranku mengulas kembali memory masa kecilku.

Saat itu aku sedang menempuh pendidikan SMP, entah kelas 2 atau 3.

Karena mengikuti kelas Unggulan, aku diharuskan mengikuti pelajaran tambahan seusai jam sekolah. Setiap hari Senin-Jumat, aku selalu pulang jam 4 sore.

Lelah & Capek, itu sudah makanan sehari- hari. Sampai akhirnya aku mencaplok jam mengajiku di mushola untuk istirahat. Karena malam harinya, aku harus belajar lagi & mengerjakan PR.

Suatu hari seseorang bertanya padaku, “kok sekarang uda ga pernah ngaji lagi, Cin?

“Iya mas, capek e. Pulang sekolah sampe sore”.

“Untuk sekolah (baca: nuntut ilmu dunia) aja kamu habiskan setengah harimu. Tapi kenapa untuk mengaji (baca: menimba ilmu akhirat) yang cuma beberapa jam, kamu perhitungan banget??”

Kata- kata itu membekas banget, bahkan sampai sekarang. Dan mungkin ga akan aku lupa kecuali kalau amnesia (amit2, jangan sampai).

—

Aku sudah ditampar sekali, tapi belum bangun juga. Walaupun secara keseluruhan, aku merasa sudah mengalami perbaikan.

Namun tetap saja, ternyata aku belum bangun sepenuhnya. Saking sayangnya Allah padaku, Ia mengingatkanku kembali sekarang.

Di negeri asing, melalui orang yang memiliki jalan pikir sangat berbeda pula.