Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia

Image source: republicoft.com

By Jennie S. Bev

Politics and economics make an incredibly sexy partnership. Their erotic affair is based on influencing people, getting them to respond to desires. According to Thomas Sowell, a Stanford-based economist, political decisions tend to be categorical or unconditional, while economic decisions tend to be incremental or progressive. Citing Otto Von Bismarck, politics is the art of the possible. Thus, how well politicians and economists work together to create public prosperity is the measure of a successful government.

In the case of the United States, a successful government translates to one that spreads its influence in the most effective way possible. In Indonesia’s case, success means surviving the challenges posed by the wave of globalization. Read the rest of this entry »

Image sources: www.librarything.com and news.harvard.edu

By Evan A. Laksmana

“Clausewitz does not say much about civil-military relations in On War. Where he does address the subject, [he] is not talking about not politicians or civilians, per se.”Antulio J. Echevarria1

“Clausewitz did write a lot about civil-military relations. Even in On War.” Peter Paret2

“Clausewitz did NOT write about civil-military relations, and… There is a silence in On War, except to tell us that war is the servant and ‘Politik’ is the master.”Colin S. Gray3 Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: nirwansyahputra.wordpress.com

By Evan A. Laksmana

Last Friday, President Yudhoyono, while officiating the latest war monuments in Jakarta, asked that all of us cherish and reflect on Indonesia’s military history, reminding us that while we may prefer “soft power”, we should also be “ready for war”.

Here, the three monuments were meant to commemorate our “struggles” with Malaysia, East Timor and the Dutch. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: post-gazette.com

By Jennie S. Bev

An Athenian tragedian Euripides (480 BC-406 BC) said, “Equality will never be found among humans.” Some 2,500 years later, women are still struggling for their equal position in society.

Speaking from experience, living in the United States as a minority woman is one of my greatest blessings. On an episode of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey said, “The United States is the best country to live in for women.” While I agree with her to some extent, it might have been an overstatement because, apparently, the United Nations Development Program does not concur with her. The United States was ranked just 12th in 2007-08, behind countries like Iceland, Norway, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, Japan, Netherlands, France and Finland in a survey of women’s rights. Read the rest of this entry »

Sumber Gambar: newsimg.bbc.co.uk

Oleh Dr. Beni Bevly

Pada hari Selasa, 17 Februari 2009, saya menyaksikan suatu peristiwa penting di Tanah Seberang, yaitu penandatanganan $787 miliar paket stimulus, stimulus terbesar sejak perang dunia ke dua, oleh President Barack Obama. Pada event yang sama, Blake Jones, CEO Namaste Solar, perusahaan panel solar kecil, mendapat kehormatan untuk bicara. Ia menyatakan bahwa perusahaannya tumbuh sangat cepat, dari 3 karyawan menjadi 60 dalam waktu 3 tahun. Dengan paket stimulus ini, ia memprediksikan bisa merekrut 20 karyawan lagi. Apa arti kejadian ini bagi perkembangan perusahaan yang bersifat going green baik di Tanah Seberang muapun di Tanah Air? Sebenarnya apa sajakah yang tercakup dalam slogan going green ini? Kesempatan apa yang dapat diraih oleh pangusaha di Tanah Air dalam rangka mendukung gerakan going green?

Pengusaha yang mengdopsi usaha going green tentunya menjadi semakin populer dan banyak diminati sejak kejadian di atas. Going green telah dipopulerkan oleh Al Gore, Pemenang Hadiah Nobel tahun 2007 melalui buku dan video An Inconvvenient Truth-nya. Intinya, dalam beberapa tahun terakhir ini, suhu temparatur global (global warming) meningkat dengan drastis. Dari kumpulan 21 tahun yang terpanas, 20 di antaranya terjadi dalam 25 tahun terakhir. Akibat dari kenaikan suhu secara drastis ini ternyata berdampak negative bagi kelangsungan lingkungan dan kehidupan manusia.

Pada saat ini, banyak penduduk di Tanah Seberang telah menyadari akan perubahan keadaan linkungan alam dan bahaya global warming. Maka itu, mereka bersedia dan siap untuk menganti lifestyle mereka dengan going green life style. Merekalah yang akan menjadi komsumer terbesar dalam bisnis going green.

Slogan going green mencakup pengertian filosofis yang berkaitan dengan pergerakan sosial yang berpusat pada konservasi dan perbaikan lingkungan alam. Dalam kegiatan sehari-hari di Tanah Seberang pengertian ini dikaitkan dengan penghematan energi, penghematan penggunaan air bersih, efisiensi penggunaan bahan bakar, memilih makanan yang bersahabat dengan lingkungan, tidak menggunakan minuman botol, menggunakan barang second hand, lebih baik menyewa dari pada membeli, belanja dengan dengan teliti, tidak cepat mengganti alat elektronik dan digital, dan lain-lain.

Searah dengan gerakan seperti di atas, maka berjamuranlah usaha di Tanah Seberang. Usaha seperti itu di antaranya adalah pengdaan solar panel seperti Namaste Solar, green cleaning and household management, green building, green design, green consumerism, green parenting atau pet care, dan green consultant.

Bagaimana kondisi di Tanah Air? Dengan paket stimulus raksasa dari Tanah Seberang dan ditambah gerakan going green menjalar ke Tanah Air, diperkirakan usaha dalam bidang ini akan bekembang pesat. Hal ini juga didukung oleh para Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat seperti Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI) yang memiliki perwakilan di 25 provinsi dan 438 organisasi yang berafiliasi sebagai anggota bekerja untuk menjaga dan membela kelestarian alam dan lingkungan komunitas Indonesia.

Perubahan lifestyle seperti ini akan banyak membuka peluang untuk para pengusaha, termasuk pengusa kecil dan besar. Di Tanah Seberang, salah satu perusahaan raksasa, yaitu Wal Mart telah komit mendukung gaya hidup ini. Lee Scott, CEO-nya mengatakan:

“Tidak perlu ada konflik antara linkungan dan ekonomi. Bagi saya, tidak ada yang baik mengenai pencemaran bahan kimiah ke udara. Tidak ada yang baik mengenai asap yang anda lihat di kota-kota. Tidak ada yang baik mengenai pencemaran bahan kimiah ke sungai-sungai di Negara Ketiga sehingga orang bisa membeli barang lebih murah di negara maju. Hal-hal seperti itu pada hakekatnya adalah salah, terlepas dari anda seorang environmentalist atau bukan.”

Untuk itu Wal Mart telah banyak menjual green product. Mereka juga telah mengganti sumber energi dan cara proses yang lebih efisien dan lebih going green.

Kembali ke Tanah Air. Perubahan gaya hidup seperti ini juga akan membuka peluang usaha baru seperti meningkatnya gerakan menghemat energi. Gejala ini bisa dimafaatkan oleh pengusaha untuk menawarkan produk teknologi hemat energi seperti compact fluorescent light bulbs/CFLs.

Para penganut lifestyle going green juga akan menghemat dalam pengunaan air bersih, karena itu produk-produk hemat air bersih seperti low-flow showerhead dan faucet aerator dan tanaman atau bunga yang tidak mebutuhkan banyak air akan menjadi semakin laku. Mereka juga akan menggunakan kendaraan yang hemat atau tidak mengunakan bahan bakar, maka seorang pengusaha bisa menawarkan pengunaan sepeda yang nyaman untuk dikendarai di kompleks-kompleks.

Makanan organik adalah salah satu objek yang dikonsumsi oleh konsumer golongan ini. Berkaitan dengan hal ini, pengusaha bisa menawarkan makan organik yang berasal dari dalam negeri. Hal lain yang bisa ditawarkan adalah penggunaan produk packaging yang bio-degradable/ecological friendly/recyclable, usaha sewa barang, produk tahan lama, dan usaha recycling alat elektonik.

Memang untuk memulai usaha baru pasti dibutuhkan informasi, pengetahuan dan keahlian baru pula, termasuk usaha yang satu ini. Informasi, pengetahuan dan keahlian baru ini bisa didapati di universitas-universitas terkemuka dalam dan luar negeri. Biasanya mereka menyediakan mata kuliah, kursus, seminar dan perpustakaan yang memberikan informasi sejenis ini.

Di samping itu, buku, majalah dan newsletters keluaran terbaru juga sering membahas topik ini.

Jika anda punya akses ke internet, maka fasilitas muktahir ini adalah alat yang paling bisa diandalkan dalam mencari dan memperkaya informasi mengenai usaha yang berkaitan dengan lifestyle going green.

Kapan waktu yang tepat untuk memulai usaha seperti ini? Jawabannya adalah sekarang. Jangan sampai jauh tertinggal oleh Namaste Solar.

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Dr. Beni Bevly adalah penulis buku Managing For Profit Organizations
in the Flatter World. Ia bisa dijumpai di www.overseasthinktankforindonesia.com. Artikel ini diterbitkan oleh majalah Duit!

Image source:flickr.com

By Jennie S. Bev

Indonesia is a pluralistic country, and it shows how people of different religions and ethnic groups can live side-by-side in harmony. The Indonesian brand of Islam is generally considered to be moderate and liberal. However, a survey conducted by the Center for Islamic and Society Studies, or PPIM, at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University last year revealed some chilling facts. The respondents were Islamic boarding school, or pesantren , leaders from five provinces in Java, and most opposed pluralism and tolerance, and approved of the use of violence in the name of religion.

Of the respondents, 75 percent said they would allow churches built without permits to be destroyed or closed; 86 percent agreed that Muslims should not allow other religions’ worship places in their neighborhoods; 81 percent agreed that Muslims are not allowed to extend greetings for other religions’ holidays; 75 percent agreed that adulterers should be stoned to death; and 77 percent agreed that non-Muslims are not allowed to be heads of state. A whopping 89 percent supported Shariah-inspired bylaws as the standards for Indonesia’s morality. Such findings raise fundamental questions: Is Indonesia’s pluralism sliding downhill at an exponential rate? Shouldn’t we all be aware of and adhere to the so-called “universal” human rights?

Pluralism is about mutual co-existence … as it is almost impossible to understand others without accepting common values

Despite the alarming facts, the Indonesian government and some moderate scholars have been denying Indonesia’s slide into intolerance and its dying pluralism. The typical argument given has been, “Those radical extremists are loud while speaking up is not a salient feature of moderates.” This might be true to some extent, as the media is usually quite eager to pick up negative news. Or the cautious nature of human beings could explain why people are interested in alerting themselves by focusing on negative news, thus creating a bigger ripple effect.

Whenever we speak about pluralism, it is about mutual co-existence. It is, above all, about equality, as it is almost impossible to understand, accept and live peacefully with others without acknowledging common values. The most basic of all values? The so-called “basic” human rights.

Now the question is: Does the most accepted interpretation of Islam in Indonesia equally acknowledge all human rights as purportedly listed in international treaties and declarations? Based on the above survey results, it does not. Or, at least, according to those respondents. Is it really so, however?

Khaled Abou el-Fadl, professor of law at the University of California in Los Angeles, wrote in “The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists,” that some argue there are no such things as universal values, hence the so-called “false universals.” But many moderate scholars are not entertained by the idea that universal values are not applicable in certain cultures because each culture is unique and independent. According to their argument, “false universal” antipathy is oftentimes an act of concealing ethnocentrism. Many moderate scholars are known to argue that at least a human being has the right to live with dignity.

Fred R. von der Mehden, a professor of political science at Rice University, in his paper “Hindrance of Democracy and Modernization in Indonesia,” said that Indonesian religious leaders and organizations in the past century have not consciously fought modernization, which is believed to be a fundamental ingredient in acknowledging universal human rights. He also added there have been misleading facts that are antithetical to a pluralistic democratic society: statements that Islam is not compatible with democracy, violent actions against minorities in the name of Islam and efforts to implement policies that are perceived to limit religious rights. Failed nation-building is a bitter pill to swallow, indeed, and it takes more than a village to socialize the notion of pluralism in a society.

We might want to place the responsibility for making changes in the hands of Muslim clerics and even Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, but we can actually start with ourselves, with these verses from the Koran : “If God had willed, He would have made you one community but things are as they are to test you in what He has given you. So compete with each other in doing good”; and, “Among His signs is the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. Surely there are signs for those who reflect.” Do it now; wait no more.

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Jennie S. Bev is an Indonesian-born author and columnist based in Northern California. This article was published by the Jakarta Globe.