A Solitary Journey: A New Beginning

It has been a long time I did not write on a blog. Especially, after the twitter hits the world and then people (including me) become tweedicted, I find my sense of writing a long paragraph vanished.

Early 2012, I began to write a very long writing again. The longest I count is 1,818 words. It is a six pages long essays for my personal statement. I bet, if I were not required by admission officer of University of Maryland to explain many things (work experience, education, voluntary works, and so on), I would never write such a long passage.

I remember my blogging time in 2003 until 2009, even though I wrote twice or thrice on 2010 and 2011. I used to blog in my Multiply, "Aries, yang berzodiak Taurus" (or "Aries, the Taurus one; in bahasa Indonesia). Through that blog, I joined blogfam (Indonesian blogger family) and even won a writing competition held by the group: Lomba Ngeluh Gombal! (or Complained Rag Competition!) ha ha ha ... Well, I believed I have a sense of humor and proved it!


However, I found Multiply is no more nice-to-blogging-in. Too much online seller over there (in blogspot too, Dude! *dooh*). So, I decided to make this blog and this post is a new beginning.

Welcome to my solitary world! The world where I share story, thought, and journey in my solitary.

Regards.

Statement of Purpose: On A Mission

Inside Islam: The History Channel Through The Tweets

Here are several twit I made at my twitter @ariessetiadi while I was (re)watching Inside Islam - The History Channel.

People have to make distinctions between the religion (Islam) and the fanatics that take it into violence and extreme.

Since its beginning, Islam has spread to every corner of the globe although West think of it as religion of middle east.

The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad saw, is a mortal man. He is not a divine.

As scripture, Qur'an is Arabic poetry of a high order. Stories, advices & warnings, are mixed together to reveal God's will.

Believe in single God, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage are 5 pillars of Islam.

1st, syahadah (declaration of faith). "I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify Muhammad is the messenger of God."

2nd, shalat (praying 5 times a day). At sunrise, in mid day, in the afternoon, at sunset, and in the evening.

3rd, zakat (charity). Charity is required of all Muslims with ability to contribute. It's entirely distributed to those in need.

4th, shaum (fasting in holy month Ramadan). Fasting foster a reflection of gifts of life and the need of those less fortunate.

Baghdad was the center of Islamic culture, poetry, calligraphy, architecture, engineering, science, and philosophy.

Many discipline flourished & some new ones were invented. Arab mathematician develop concept of decimal fraction, calculus, etc.

In study and practice of medicine, Islam achieved distinction: surgical technique, orthopedic, & treating mental illness.

5th pillar of Islam, Hajj (the journey). It's required to Muslim at least once on their lifetime, if physically and financially able to go.

2 form of Pilgrimage: Um-rah, the less pilgrimage taken alone/small group every time of the year. Hajj, the greater pilgrimage.

In Qur'an, the rights of women are clearly defined. The right to have choices, own properties, receive inheritances, & vote.

Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors. (Qur'an 2: 190)

The great jihad is to struggle against our main desire.

Suicide in Islam is strictly forbidden to all Muslims. God gives life, and only God can take the life.

Quran 2: 195, "... do not throw (yourselves) with your (own) hands into destruction (by refraining)...."

Let's look each other as human beings, not stereotypes. Wallahu'alam. Allah knows the best.

Inside Islam - The History Channel can be accessed through YouTube, http://t.co/e6ue5Tq

A New Day in A New Place

Bismillahirahmanirrahiim. Since two days ago, I am having a training in Center for Education, Training and Development of Human Resources, Ministry of Finance. I will spend the next 4 months in this place, day and night.

I feel exciting to realize I will have many experiences, especially meet with another civil servants of Ministry of Finance. They come from 10 different Directorate General in Ministry of Finance.

Harnessing Global Diversity: A Public Lecture from Pascal Lamy

Berikut ini, sedikit hasil dari public lecture oleh Pascal Lamy (General-Director WTO) dalam rangka Panglaykim Memorial Lecture 2011, hasil kerja sama Panglaykim Foundation dan CSIS pada 14 Juni 2011. Semoga bermanfaat (dan semoga saya nggak salah quote he he he).

With the culture, religious, and bio diversity, Indonesia is a perfect reflection of world greatest challenge: harnessing global diversity. #PL

Globalization dominates our era, but it is an increasingly fragile dominance. #PL

Global integration delivers benefits: growing wealth, technology, the rise of people in the developing world, etc. #PL

But it also creates new risks: financial instability, economic imbalances, environmental stresses, inequalities, etc. #PL

Market and technology are pushing us together, but political pressures risk pulling us apart. #PL

Lamy quoted Marx about capitalism’s inherent tension and contradictions. Market capitalism contains the seed of its own destruction. #PL

Market capitalism transforms economies: innovation, risk-taking, competition, the survival of the economically fittest. #PL

But market capitalism also has power to disrupt, overturn, and breed social insecurity and conflict. #PL

An integrated global economy requires political consensus and cooperation to sustain it. #PL

By transforming the economic and social order, globalized market capitalism also risks weakening the political foundation on which it rests. #PL

But the answer is not Marxist revolution. It’s political evolution, re-embedding markets in a re-invented social and political order. #PL

Globalization is a revolutionary force. Open and interconnect world, that wealth is spreading, knowledge is expanding, health is improving. #PL

Yet, globalization remains a discontented dream. The recent financial crisis, the worried about unemployment, the safety of food. #PL

Re-inventing our institutions is not about building more agencies. It’s about networking institutions in a better way. #PL

This leads to the challenge of policy coherence. As the world has grown more integrated and policy making has become more complicated. #PL

The real challenge today is to change our way of thinking, not just our system, institutions or policies. #PL

The future lies with more globalization, more cooperation, more interaction between peoples and cultures. #PL

It’s “unity in our global diversity”, or to quote Indonesia’s national motto: “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika”, that we need today. #PL

picture courtesy of http://web65.uranus.ibone.ch/news-and-events/10th-anniversary.html