BALI AND KOMODO ISLANDS

 

As one of the richest countries with cultural and animal diversities, Indonesia at least has two wonderful islands to visit. The first place is Bali Island. This beautiful island is located in the central part of the country, between Java and Nusa Tenggara Islands. Most foreign visitors put Bali as their first priority when they come to Indonesia.  Indeed, Bali is probably more popular than Indonesia itself. Not only Bali is famous for its amazing beaches, such as Kuta beach and Sanur beach, but also it has a lot of cultural performances, such as unique traditional dances and Hindu ceremonies. Thus, many people are interested in traveling to Bali due to its natural views as well as cultural heritance. Another interesting place to visit is Komodo Island. The island is the original habitat of Komodo, an ancient species dating back over 100 million years. This giant reptile was discovered by Van Steyn in 1911. Furthermore, this year Komodo is a candidate to become one of the 7 wonders of nature in the world. If it is selected to be one of the winners, the descendent of the dinosaur will be universally acknowledged as the original ancient animal from Indonesia.  In short, Bali and Komodo Islands may become the most attractive choices when people take a trip to Indonesia.

                                                  

                                                  

MY MOTHER

Someone that I admire a lot is my mother. She is really patient to rear me since the beginning of my life. For instance, when I was a child, I got a serious illness. I was so thin and weak that I almost died. However, my mother never gave up facing this crisis situation.  She sincerely poured her love to support me. She went to many doctors several times to get some suggestions. One day, a wise doctor advised her to feed me a durian, a kind of fruit which I liked most. Soon, she brought me to my grandfather’s home at the village where the durian tree was located. I was such a happy child that I could eat my favorite fruit. As a result, my health condition gradually got better and became a healthy boy. Once I remember this personal experience about my mother’s struggle for my life, I promise to serve the best for her.

FAMILY PLANNING (KB)

 

Family planning is the planning applied by a couple to decide when to have children by using some birth control techniques. It is usually applied to a female-male couple who wish to limit the number of children they have or to control the timing of pregnancy. In this respect, some countries have implemented the policy of family planning. China, for example, has imposed one-child policy that encourages couples to have no more than one child. Even though some people argue against family planning, some positive effects should be taken into account, such as control of population, reduction of maternal death, and increase of social welfare.

            Many people disagree with the policy of family planning. They think that such policy will result in many problems, such as abortion and forced sterilization. Some religious thinkers also criticize this policy by stating that in religious belief, God will take care of all the people around the world. Nevertheless, these ideas may be countered by some arguments below.

ILLEGAL LOGGING IN INDONESIA

Illegal logging is a major problem for timber-producing countries in the developing world. It has caused environmental ruins and produced various threats in many areas. It also promotes corruption and undermines the rule of law. In Indonesia’s case, for instance, illegal logging has become one of the most pressing problems in recent years. It does not only destroy the forests such as in Kalimantan and Sumatra islands, but also threatens some protected animals. It is reported that the annual log harvest started from 32.6 million cubic meters in 1997 to 64.6 million cubic meters in 1998. Amazingly, no less than 75% of timber production was considered illegal (Tacconi et.al., 2004). To discuss this important issue, three key causes of illegal logging in Indonesia: poor protection, poor law enforcement, and corruption, will be the main focus of this piece of writing.

First of all, illegal logging may happen in Indonesia because the protection of the forests in this country is really poor. According to Ravenel and Granof (2004) Indonesia has numerous large forests lying from Sumatra island in the west to Papua island in the east, but the government could not provide sufficient powers, such as human resources and sophisticated technology, to control the illegal activities in the forests. Although the government has issued several regulations to combat this problem, illegal logging is still unavoidable. It may result from local people around the forests who lack understanding about the danger of deforestation.

Law enforcement is another problem that should be taken into account. In the view of Tacconi et.al. (2004), the government is actually conscious about the negative effects of illegal logging. It also has introduced several laws about forest protection. Furthermore, environmental activists often remind the government to be aware of illegal logging conducted by people from cities, such as some business people who have large industries in Jakarta. Those people open the forest illegally to take timber and export them without official documents. Nevertheless, the government could not stop this crime since several actors of illegal logging are the people in charge in Jakarta (Hiller, 2004). Those corrupt people have the power to control the forests.

The other major cause of illegal logging is corruption. Even though the current President, Yudhoyono, tries to implement a clean government, corruption is still inevitable. People who take advantage of the poor law enforcement in Indonesia are still able to benefit from illegal logging since the demand from other countries, such as Australia and the United States, is still huge (Smith, 2004). Therefore, they could cut off trees in remote and preserved forests to fulfill this never-ending trade by bribing forest officers.

To sum up, illegal logging is a significant threat faced by several countries including Indonesia. There are several causes of such illegal activities. Hence, the government, the business people, and the environmental activists should go hand in hand with society to solve this problem and produce a wise policy to protect the forests from unintended damages.

References

Hiller, M., Jarvis, B., Lisa H., Paulson, L., Pollard, E., & Stanley, S. (2004). Recent trends in illegal logging and a brief discussion of their causes: A case study from Gunung Palung national park, Indonesia, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF
Ravenel R., & Granoff, I. (2004). Illegal logging in the tropics: A synthesis of the issues, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF
Smith, W. (2004). Undercutting sustainability, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF
Tacconi, L., Obidzinski, K., Smith., J., Subarudi, & Suramenggala, I., (2004). Can ‘legalization’ of illegal forest activities reduce illegal logging? Lessons from East Kalimantan, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF

ISLAMIC PHILANTHROPY

It is understandable that human security has close-relationship with social security. Social security, in a broader meaning, may include the elimination of detrimental conditions to survival which possibly become triggers of poverty. The fundamental aspects of survival refer to enough food, health, education and protection from discrimination in any situation. Islam, as one of the popular religions with the million adherents spreading around the world, has several programs to improve social security as well as social empowerment through Islamic philanthropy. The spirit to help other people is the main objective of Islamic philanthropy, as philanthropy means love of people. It assures that the philanthropic programs should put the love of human beings to be the top issue. Islamic philanthropy plays important roles in the delivery of social security in terms of survival, progress, and sustenance of poor people. There are, at least, two categories of Islamic charity: obligatory charitable wealth tax (zakat), and permanent endowment or Islamic charitable foundation (waqf).

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam which is called regular charity or obligatory charitable wealth tax taken from the rich people (muzakki) and given to the poor people (mustahiq). In other word, zakat will purify the wealth of the haves and fulfill the need of the have nots. The word zakat itself means purification and the purpose is to purify the legally earned wealth. The amount of wealth, according to Hasan (2006), should be at least 2.5% of a person's net income every year. It will be collected by the administrator of zakat (amil) and distributed to eight chosen groups proportionally, i.e. the poor, the needy, those employed to administer the zakat fund, new converts to Islam, those in bondage, those in debt, anything in the cause of God, and the wayfarer. By zakat, the recipients may also be purified from jealousy and hatred to the wealthy people.

The other form of Islamic philanthropy is waqf which is formed through voluntary donation by the owner of a property. Waqf in Salarzahi’s point of view (2010) has two advantages: the hereafter future for the person who make the waqf endowment and the worldly future for the person who get benefits from waqf. The doers of waqf will receive never-ending rewards from God as long as the waqf properties are still preserved by people or organizations which manage the benefits of waqf. In the recent years, cash waqf has become popular since people without many immovable properties may make waqf by depositing some money in certain banks. The banking system prefers cash waqf because it is easier for them to handle than properties or other endowments. There have been examples, such as in Bangladesh, Turkey, and Indonesia, where cash waqf have been distributed as credit to the needy group of people and returns from these loans were distributed to them including on social services.

To sum up, Islamic philanthropy has a significant role to increase the welfare of society. There two main programs of the philanthropy: zakat and waqf. With this spirit, Islamic philanthropy may provide numerous benefits to increase the welfare of society.



References

Hasan, S. (2006). Muslim philanthropy and social security, ISTR Biennial Conference, Retrieved from http://www.istr.org/conferences/bangkok/WPVolume/ Hasan.Samiul.pdf
Salarzahi, H. (2010). Waqf as a social entrepreneurship model in Islam. International Journal of Business and Management, 5 (7). Retrieved form http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/viewFile/6636/5251

THE WORLD TURNS GRAY, HOW COME?

The article entitled “the World Turns Gray” is really interesting. It illustrates an aging world that the elders will outnumber the youths in about 2040. There are many problems faced by people due to this situation. Some of them are the responsibility for taking care the elderly and economic crisis because of the decrease of workers.

To overcome the problem of the responsibility of the elderly nursing, the government, the local community, the religious organizations, and family may have to share the responsibility. For instance, the government should provide sufficient health facilities for the retired people whereas the religious organizations support them with psychological and mental treatments. However, the family has to play the most important role to take care of the elderly. For instance, if the parents become old, the children have to pour their attention and love to them as the proper reward. They have to feed and dress their parents just like the way their parents nurtured them when they were in childhood. In case that the children, who now become busy workers, do not have enough time to take care the elderly, they may ask other people to help them. The elderly will feel more comfortable when they stay at home with their children rather than stay at nursing house.

Another problem is the decline of national income caused by the decrease of workers. It may be solved by two possible ways. The first solution is the extension of retirement age. Some people who are still possible to work should continue to go to the workplaces. They may choose the type of work based on their current capability. For example, teachers may have the chance to teach their students up to 65 years-old of their age instead of 60 since they are still able to share their knowledge in the class. It is also applicable for professors who have to teach university students until 70 years-old. It means that the elderly people will have the chance to get involved in social activities in order that they may enjoy their life more meaningfully. The other solution is that the government may increase the rate of taxes. Since the retirement age is lengthened, the tax payment does not only belong to the young workers but also to the old employees. Therefore the income from this sector is still high. As a result, the percentage of taxes can be minimized, not as high as when the taxes are only the responsibility of the young workers.

To sum up, the problem of global aging may be overcome by introducing several policies. All elements of society may take the role to share the responsibility.