Tikno Viewpoint

The strong country I mean is a country that is able to protect and prosper its people, and is able to provide assistance and influence to regional countries politically, economically or militarily. Indeed, a country's territory, natural resources, and population also need to be considered. But in this post, I want to highlight the five main pillars for becoming a strong country, namely: Political maturity and stability. Legal certainty and supremacy. Money / economic power. Mastery of high technology. Strong and self-sufficient military. Pillar no. 1: Political Maturity and Stability. This is the core which will provide the basis for building the next pillars. A country that is busy with political instability, domestic conflicts, riots, rebellions, military coups, will NEVER become a strong country. Their resources, time and minds are drained just because of power struggles. Like walking in place, no steps forward, always starting from zero. Note: consciously or not, a country must...

Fentanyl is one of the drugs known to relieve aches and pains, and it can be addictive. At the same dose, fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine. That's why fentanyl is more dangerous than other opioid drugs. Lately, the American public has been shocked again by the fentanyl crisis. Over 100,000 people died from drug overdoses between August 2021 and August 2022. This fact makes me sad. At first, I thought this was an American domestic problem. Just like how the American government deals with cases of mass shootings due to the possession of firearms. Just like drug addiction cases that occur in any country in the world. Who do you accuse if your child is addicted to drugs while your neighbor's child is fine? What caught my attention is that this case is turning towards the desire to sanctions and political fervor . This is exacerbated by hyperbolic sentences from the biased media. US Senator Chuck Schumer wants to push for legislation that would sanction China for its al...

When Soviet Union was strong, they were labeled with all negative things that is related to socialism (stigmatized). Perhaps because the "eastern" European power were seen as a threat to western domination. No political attack at all on China at that time because China still weak, poor, called as bicycle country, so not considered as a threat. But when China began to advance rapidly, moreover approaching USA, they began to be perceived as a threat to western domination. The revival of the "eastern" world in Asia which was firstly represented by Japan, then South Korea, was not considered as a threat because both of them willing to follow western styles and patterns. Unlike China who want to stand out with their own distinctive style and patterns. This was considered as a threat to western domination. The game of thrones . Yes, that is true. History has recorded abundant stories of power struggles that ended in blood. Just look at it. No intense competition between t...

Is the world now heading to a good direction? This is a big question that we need to realize together. I am not an analyst who is an expert in the political, economic or military fields, nor a great speaker. So in this post I only present what I hear from the frenzy and uproar that occurs in our world. Of course from the viewpoint of a layman. If you scrutinize the news then the following is its frenzy : 1) USA vs China trade war. The United States is one of the countries that once supported the free market, but is now very protective for the main reason because of the trade deficit. Naturally all countries tend to take protective measures if their economic growth is threatened. Usually this is normal for small and developing countries. I'm just shocked this is done by a country that has the number 1 economic power in the world. This is a kind of anxiety that China will compete with the US economy in the future. The first point demanded by the United States from China is the protec...

Competition between pair Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (known as Ahok) - Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anis Baswedan - Sandiaga Uno in the Jakarta gubernatorial election has ended. Although the scale of this election is only for Jakarta, this political contestation has a wide influence in Indonesia and gained international attention. Because for the first time a candidate, namely Basuki Tjahaja Purnama is from "double minority" background that is ethnic Chinese and Christian I do not want to talk at length about the first paragraph in this post because I'm sure everyone in Indonesia already knows about the political tension behind it and how its influence to the national unity. I am only interested in conveying the philosophical message to you all in relation to that matter. Diversity is destiny . So that is destiny if Indonesia consist of multi ethnics: Chinese, Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, Acehnese, Irian, etc. More globally there are white, yellow, black. We can not choose t...

The issue of tapping "conducted" by Australia now widespread discussed in Indonesia. Even the Indonesian hacker has reportedly attacked several sites belonging to Australian as countermeasure. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will send a formal letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott to ask for an official explanation from the Australian government. While we don't know what exactly the content of the letter, let we see on what Indonesian President had wrote on his official twitter account, as follow : That's official Twitter account of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Managed by the special staff of President of the Republic of Indonesia. Tweets from the President are signed *SBY*. Below was the hacker's message (image taken from merdeka.com). I think, tapping in the cyber world is common, but tapping that conducted by a government to government is a serious matter. Do you agree?

Within this post, I just picked up the scattered stories from the media in Indonesia related to the three book-bomb attact on 15 March 2011. The first news that has attracted me to publish this post was Jakarta Globe titled "Democracy in Indonesia in 'Danger': Journalists Alliance": Judging from the package sent, the perpetrator was clearly trying to silence Ulil by killing him", said Nezar Patria, chairman of AJI (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen / The Alliance of Independent Journalists). The case has to be solved. An attack against an advocate of pluralism is a hard blow to our national ideals. Democracy in Indonesia is now in danger. Tempo Interaktif also published the letter (written in Indonesian) that found within the book-bomb packet addressed to Ulil. According to Jakarta Globe , there were three book-bombs. The first one addressed to Ulil Abshar Abdalla, co-founder of Jaringan Islam Liberal (English: Liberal Islam Network). The second package was addre...

When reading news I found an interesting news reported by Antara News and Tempo Interaktif. There is mentioned that the two of Australia's famous newspaper, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, has reported confidential information about President Yudhoyono. The news on both newspaper were based on WikiLeaks's information which was leaked from the diplomatic wire of U.S. Embassy. Fellow blogger Martin Manurung, as I read on his profile was a President Director of PT Sekurindo Gada Patria (a company provides consultancy on managing risks and business continuity), has an interesting post about this issue titled Arti Heboh Wikileaks . Sadly he wrote in Bahasa Indonesia. He had quote and translate parts of the sentences from the Australian newspaper that he considers important (and I quote from his post), that is: ...The US diplomatic reports-obtained by WikiLeaks and provided exclusively to The Age - say that soon after becoming President in 2004, Dr Yudhoyono intervened in th...

As we know the pro-democracy movement was on the rise in the Middle East and North Africa. The victim started from Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Yemen, and the next candidate is Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and maybe Bahrain. I also saw a wave of pro-democracy has brought a sense of worry for countries in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia. When pro-democracy movement shook Tunisia, oil prices has not been affected, likewise when these movement travel to Egypt, because these two countries was not a significant oil producer for the world. But when the pro-democracy protests spread to Libya, oil prices has jumped since mid-February when the rebellion in Libya increases. Thus Saudi Arabia was forced to increase its oil production in order to maintain the stability of world energy and cooling the overheated energy prices. The most frightening is that if pro-democracy demonstrations spread to Saudi Arabia . It seems that USA and European countries are aware that the longer th...

Before you continues to read this post, please read the brief history of Aceh , until Tsunami disaster happened and finally get a special autonomy right from Indonesian central government. For years the Indonesian military has struggle to fight against what we call Gerakan Aceh Merdeka / GAM (English: Free Aceh Movement) who want to establish an Islamic state and impose Sharia law in Aceh province. This proves that Indonesia do not wanting Islamic state system because Indonesia is a country based on the laws (national law), democratic, consist of various ethnic groups, has 6 official religion, with national motto: Unity in diversity, not an Islamic state that implement Sharia law. However, this war has caused many casualties and was not offering the civil order, harmony, and security for millions of civilians in Aceh. I say thousands of victims as a side effect of war, not just a matter of the position of a woman as reported by Jakarta Globe with the title " Women Unfit to Lead,...

Starting on (Indonesia time) 7 August until 14 September 2010 the night entertainment venues (such as pubs, bars, cafes, discotheques, karaoke), massage parlors and whorehouses (brothel) must be closed temporarily almost in most regions in Indonesia. The reason of this closure is to respect and to provide serenity for the Muslims during the fasting month (Indonesian: Bulan puasa). Generally, each city government use the formula: From H-3 to H+3 . Means three days before the first day of fasting until three days after Eid ul-Fitr (Indonesian: Idul Fitri). This is approximately equal to one month plus one week for no activity of such companies. This maybe a consequence because Muslim is majority in this country. The circumstance is definitely different in the countries with majority non-Muslim. Last year in some cities like Jakarta, Manado and the cities in the province of Bali and Irian Jaya, the night entertainment venue were not closed totally but the city authority limiting their ...

Starting on June 1, 2010, Indonesia's Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, will officially take his new position as Managing Director of the World Bank. Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has officially agreed to a written request from the President of World Bank Robert B Zoellick to appoints Sri Mulyani as Managing Director. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also considers it is a strategic position, important and honorable position, namely as the second person on the World Bank. According to a press release No:2010/379/EXC from The World Bank , Sri Mulyani Indrawati will supervise three regions: Latin America and Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, and East Asia and Pacific. "I am delighted to announce the appointment of Sri Mulyani Indrawati. She has been an outstanding Finance Minister with in-depth knowledge of both development issues and the role of the World Bank Group" said Mr. Zoellick. "Ms. Indrawati brings a unique set of skil...

Two sides of the wish. Circulation of beverages containing ethyl alcohol (alcoholic beverage), such as Beers, Tequila, Vodka, Martell, Johnny Walker, Hennessy, Wine, etc, seems to still be a prolonged debate in Indonesia as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. MUI (Majelis Ulama Indonesia / English: Indonesian Ulema Council ) as the highest Muslim authority in Indonesia has issued a Fatwa that stated "Haram" ( Haraam / forbidden) for these type of drinks. I believe that all religions in Indonesia (Islam, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu) including all good parents do not want their children to be a drunkard. In this case, I think, Muslim community is more extreme against this alcoholic beverage. On the other hand, Pancasila is the philosophical fundamentals of the state, and the national motto is "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" (Unity in Diversity). The country need to protect pluralism and diversity in the society under "one umbrella". It...

Dear readers, I create this post because I heard many terrorism issues that tend to be associated with Islam as religion. But through this post I want to say that it is NOT TRUE. If you say that it is personal responsibility, then I'll say yes. I know some of you may be asking within the heart "Why you say that?" Well, here is my explanation: 1) I'm strongly believe that there are still a lot of good Muslim, even far more than you imagine. I live in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, and I have many Muslim friends here. They (my Muslim friends) are also condemns terrorism action. 2) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, namely Indonesia, also condemns terrorism action and has been gave his command to the police and law enforcement to investigate, arrest, and judge all the perpetrators who were involved in the bombing cases at Hotel JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton, with firm...

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...

In this post I only quotes the things associated with the two words above. Please use your sense and read carefully to find and feel the fundamental differences from it. VETO According to Wikipedia : A veto, Latin for I FORBID , is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of legislation. In practice, the veto can be ABSOLUTE (as in the U.N. Security Council, whose permanent members can block any resolution). In the United Nations Security Council, the five permanent members (the United States, Russia, the People's Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom) have veto power in substantive matters, though NOT in procedural ones. If any of these countries votes against a proposal, it is REJECTED , even if all of the other member countries vote in favor. According to Global Policy Forum : "The five permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States) ENJOY the privilege of veto po...

On Thursday, October 30th 2008, People's Representative Council of The Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia / DPR RI) has been legalize the draft of anti-pornography law. The definition of pornography in that law are (original text in Indonesian): BAB I, Pasal 1 (1): Pornografi adalah materi seksualitas yang dibuat oleh manusia dalam bentuk gambar, sketsa, ilustrasi, foto, tulisan, suara, bunyi, gambar bergerak, animasi, kartun, syair, percakapan, gerak tubuh, atau bentuk pesan komunikasi lain melalui berbagai bentuk media komunikasi dan/atau pertunjukan di muka umum, yang dapat membangkitkan hasrat seksual dan/atau melanggar nilai-nilai kesusilaan dalam masyarakat. BAB I, Pasal 1 (2): Jasa pornografi adalah segala jenis layanan pornografi yang disediakan oleh orang perseorangan atau korporasi melalui pertunjukan langsung, televisi kabel, televisi teresterial, radio, telepon, internet, dan komunikasi elektronik lainnya serta surat kabar, ma...

While on other still hear about : 1) Majority VS minority. 2) Yellow, brown, black OR white. 3) How the REAL democracy. 4) How to ACCEPT defeats. 5) How the NATION above of personal. 6) How ABILITY above of appearance. 7) How the election ending ELEGANTLY. With Barack Obama being the President of The United States, they have been prove it to the world. No talk but action.

Dear The President around the world, I write this open letter because feels sad towards various frightening problems throughout the history of human life, like war, conflict, terrorism, racialism, global warming, and global financial crisis at this time. I only could using this blog as a media to reveal the feelings. Below was my hope and dream to all The President around the world: 1. The Country Without Military. Imagine how big the budget for military all over the world? Imagine its effect if it being used for research and programs for food, health, education, environment, including to overcome the global financial crisis at this time. I am sure the results will be more beneficial for the life of human. Why military weapons still being produced and why present generations did not yet regret. The creator of atomic bomb has regret on his creation. I'm dreaming there are only one military force that is commanded by The United Nations and used only for maintain world peace. Comple...