Tikno Viewpoint

I am surprised when reading Kaltim Post newspaper (Monday, 27 April 2009) about the outbreak of Swine Influenza virus (Swine Flu). Immediately I browse the internet to find more information about these outbreak, and here of what I found for sharing. What is Swine Influenza ? According to World Health Organization (WHO), Swine influenza, or “swine flu”, is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of pigs, caused by one of several swine influenza A viruses. Morbidity tends to be high and mortality low (1-4%). The virus is spread among pigs by aerosols, direct and indirect contact, and asymptomatic carrier pigs. Outbreaks in pigs occur year round, with an increased incidence in the fall and winter in temperate zones. Many countries routinely vaccinate swine populations against swine influenza. Apprehensive Outbreak On April 25th 2009, upon the advice of the Emergency Committee called under the rules of the International Health Regulations, the Director-General declared this event ...

In legislative election 2009 in Indonesia, happened the trend of decreasing vote for parties with religious nuances, both for Islamic or Christian nuances parties. This phenomena was attract me to write this post. I see political party in Indonesia can be divided into two parts that is, religious nuances and moderate / nationalist nuances. In history of national scale election in Indonesia, the Christian nuances party not yet able to show significant votes. This could be happened, perhaps because the percentage of Christian population is very small. The interesting matter is, there is decreasing trend of votes for Islamic nuances parties in Indonesia (the world's most populous Moslem), except PKS party. The success of PKS to maintain their votes is because they have an effort to divert the issue of religious sentiment into general issue. According to Lembaga Survei Indonesia (Indonesian Survey Institute) researcher, Burhanuddin Muhtadi (Jawa Pos newspaper, Saturday, April 11th 200...

On Friday, March 27, 2009, Situ Gintung dam at Cirendeu, Tangerang, southeast of Jakarta, has broken-down and the water flooded like a small tsunami, washing away cars, houses and settlement area. Ninety nine people were killed and 102 others were missing (update the number of victims from www.kompas.com on Tuesday, March 31, 2009). My condolence for victims and their family. From all of that, there are three important notes that I want to share through this blog. First , it is indeed the embankment that broken-down was caused by excessive debit of water. Situ Gintung levee was originally built under Dutch colonial authorities era, only able to accommodate 1 million cubic of water, while the debit of water before the incident has reached 2 million cubic of water debit. There should be early warning for residents who live around the embankment when felt there was something that threatens the safety of citizens. In Situ Gintung actually already there, but not work well. Second , allotm...