After Office Meeting, Discussion, and Chit-chat.

What do most workers do on the Friday afternoon? Leaving the office early? I wish!

It was 05:18 PM. A senior in my office, Mas Wisynu, was presenting his report on IMF Institute short course in Singapore. The Director of the Directorate of Budget Formulation, Heads of Sub-directorate, Heads of Section, and Junior Superintendents gathered in the meeting room. When most people got stuck in the traffic congestion, my co-workers and I got stuck in the meeting room ha ha ha. The discussion was quite fun though. We discussed the Fiscal Stance, Fiscal Policy, Macro-economic stability, and so on.

A (Quite) Productive Day

I arrived at office 15 minutes earlier today. Impressive enough, since I got out of my room the same time as usual. God bless the traffic.

09.00 AM. My boss asked me to accompany him into (he said) a meeting. In fact, it was a research presentation from Bapak Irwan Taufiq Ritonga. Never meet the person, and felt surprised that he is a lecturer in Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, where I took my undergraduate degree. Pak Irwan is an advance Accounting class lecturer, so it's hardly to meet him in class since I took Economics as my major.

Pak Irwan is now taking his doctoral degree at Victoria University, Melbourne and writing a desertation on Developing a Model to Assess Financial Condition of Local Government in Indonesia. His reserach background is that the fiscal decentralization in Indonesia in last ten years causes financial conditions among local governments vary, while financial statements of Local Government (LG) do not adequately inform users about LG financial conditions (financial health or distress). Unlike the business sector in which financial assessments of firms are clearly defines, research assessing the financial conditions of LG is relatively new.

Now, Pak Irwan is developing a measure of the financial condition of LG based on the government financial reporting framework considering dimensions of financial condition: service level solvency, budgetary solvency, short term solvency, long term solvency, long term solvency, financial independence, and financial flexibility. One interesting finding during his presentation is that I found that Garut, where I was born, is on the lowest 10 of financial condition index of district LG in Java from 2007 to 2010. Sad! I wish I could contribute more to the city.

Actually, I planned to do my home assignment from my "Creative Thinking" course on PPM Manajemen after lunch. I wrote an answer draft but, unfortunately, checking some news, mailing lists, and emails distracted me a lot. I promised my self to finish the task at home tonight. So, I should back home soon. Adios amigos!

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