Archive for October 19th, 2009
Preventing and healing conflicts through artistic endeavors
by Jennie S. Bev
Whenever we hear the word “peace,” oftentimes we think about Mohandas Gandhi and Dalai Lama, two epitomes of peace. Dealing with peace, however, also means recognizing seeds of conflicts, preventing them from growing into full-blown ones, and eventually past and existing conflicts must be healed. In Indonesia, there have been many conflicts, past and present ones. And due to its diversity and predominantly patriarch social structure, Indonesia is a land of conflicts of various scales, yet the study of peace and preventing and healing conflicts through artistic endeavors haven’t been considered seriously. Read the rest of this entry »
A quest for strong, proper home after natural disasters
Image Source: Telegraph.
by Jennie S. Bev
The recent earthquake in West Sumatra has opened another window into the quest for home after disasters. Annually, throughout the world, there are 40 million displaced people who move from one place to another in the quest for a safe home free from natural or humanitarian disasters.
Some people travel to a nearby village or city, while others travel far away to the other side of the globe. Whatever the reasons for the migration are and wherever they finally decide to reside are as important as how the world should treat them and why a quest for home is the ultimate search in one’s lifetime. Read the rest of this entry »
The Silence Breaker: Robert Lemelson
by Jennie S. Bev
What do Benedict Anderson, John Roosa, and Robert Lemelson have in common? They have all talked about the G30S/PKI incident and its aftermath. Anderson with his Cornell paper A Preliminary Analysis of the October 1, 1965 Coup in Indonesia, Roosa with his book Pretext for Mass Murder, and Lemelson with his psychiatric anthropology documentary film 40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy. These three works complement each other very well as Anderson’s is a view from high politics, Roosa’s perspective is linear in historical fashion, and Lemelson’s is from a grassroots vantage point in which it portrays innocent people suffering long-term adverse effects from the incident. Read the rest of this entry »
The Qur’an as a text of compassion, pluralism, and free will
by Jennie S. Bev
The holy month of Ramadhan has come. It is Kairos time for Muslims worldwide, a special time of the year when the truth will appear, blessings are abundant, and peace fills the air. In this special month, we should remember those who are unfortunates and embrace those who are different from us. It is also good timing to reflect upon how we can spread kindness and compassion to others. After all, The Qur’an is a text of compassion, pluralism, and free will. And above all, God is the most compassionate of all.
The first verse of The Qur’an reminds us loud and clear that compassion is the source of all goodness and embracing Islam means first and foremost adhering to this principle, “In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.” And by “compassion,” it applies to all without any discrimination. The Chapter of Al-Imran 3:84 stated, “Say Muhammad, ‘Muslims believe in God and in what has been sent down to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes. We believe in what has been given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets of their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of the prophets. It is to God that we devote ourselves.’” Read the rest of this entry »
