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 iyam yang menghantam

 hingga syahwu

adakah lagi

tarikan hati bersenandung intim

pelan syahdu mengambang

; melintrik dilintrik

pagi siang sore malam hingga diulang

melenakan memanjangkan lahan pekuburan

berbekal sejumput tenang, sabar

perhatian menunggu giliran

untuk ajal

November 2010

10th of November

; appreciate and recognise what history can tell

There is a great aphorism says,” A great nation is a nation which is able to appreciate their heroes, their elders, their founding fathers.” It’s been an irony when our younger generation doesn’t know our historical moment, such as the 10th of November or we’ve known as the heroic day. Logically, we won’t be able to put some feeling; caring or even loving something when we don’t know about it, moreover appreciate it. Our younger generation won’t be able to value the great moment of 10th November when their environment or even their elder never establish, introduce about it.

There are at least two reasons why 10th of November memorized. The first is the war in Surabaya at 10th of November 1945 is the first and the longest war against England and their alliance, and the second is arek-arek Suroboyo are able to kill an England general. It’s something which couldn’t be achieved by other countries at their war history. The fact is, there’s no general die in vain in a terrible ambush such as in Surabaya.

When I uttered arek-arek Suroboyo, what I meant were all people who domiciled in Surabaya. I didn’t talk about their originated. Because war in Surabaya weren’t dominate by Surabayan people. There were maduranese, sumatranese, ambonese, etc. 

Indonesia got his independence in 17 august 1945. A month later, 15 September 1945 for exact, England arrived in Jakarta. They said they came with peace so we buy it, we believe it. No conflict, no disagreement, no war, none, nothing was happened. In October 6th, England arrived at Medan. The cases were the same. No conflict, no disagreement, no war, none, nothing was happened. In October 20th, England arrived in Semarang. The cases were the same. No conflict, no disagreement, no war, none, nothing was happened. But what happened in Surabaya was different. England arrived at October 25th. And three days later, in a small ambush with a few men and minimum weapon, the extremist, term which England used to call Surabaya’s rebel, killed Mallaby, an England general. Actually the extremis didn’t know who they were attacking. It’s just a random ambush. They were just seeing cars, many cars, passing the red bridge, Jembatan Merah, and decided to attack those cars, and bam. Mallaby was killed.

England was so furious. England decided to choose general Meinzert to replace Mallaby. Meinzert ordered Surabaya extremist to hand over their weapons max in November 10th six am. If until the time Surabaya extremist didn’t hand over their weapons, Surabaya would be fully attacked by England from the sky, sea and ground. And Surabaya extremist didn’t obey it. And then Surabaya was fully attacked by England and his alliance. 

Before the war was happened. There was a story in internal Nahdlatul Ulama, Nu. It was said, all NU people were waiting the instruction, or we called it fatwa, from K.H. Hasyim Asy’ari, NU founding father. K.H. Hasyim Asy’ari was said, all people who lived less than 96 km from Surabaya are a must to follow the war and people who lived more than 96 km are a must in helping people who joining the war. Some people said that is also the history of bonek. Bonek hometowns aren’t more than 96 km from Surabaya.

England said Surabaya will fall in three days. But the fact was, Surabaya fell in a month. Yes, it’s true. We were lost, but we were lost with pride, with dignity. More than 15 thousand people were died in Surabaya’s war. We must know it. We must remember it, more than that we must be able to appreciate it, because, a great nation is a nation who able to appreciate their heroes, their founding father.

A the end, I will quote a wise expression, “Subbanul yaum Rijalul Ghod”. The younger generation are the one who write the future history of our nation. Aisy kariman aw mut Syahidan, write it well or just die before you make it worst.

Hari di bekap lelaki tua

 

angin melambai malas di hari resah,

akan dapur yang kian tumpul dan

periuk yang kian kurus

 

cahaya menjulang di luar batas

dekap tangan merangkul

lepuh kerut mengikir di tiap sisi

 

lelap tidur adalah lepas khilaf

tanpa buhur karena kata serupa jilat api di lidah

;membakar setiap jujur

memupuk kelam dari dan di diri

 

tak ada mata mampu menetes

wajah terlalu penuh dengan cemoreng

nasib sepi ingin, diberangus

 

swasangka putih tidak hadir hari ini.

                                                                        2010-08-05

The Importance of Education

Our prophet Muhammad S.A.W has said,”Tholabul ilmi faridzotun ala kulli muslimin wal muslimat.” Education is a must for every person, male or female. This doesn’t mean to learn all branch of science but it is meant to seek ilmul hal; science which represents us, represents our obligations as Muslims and Indonesian people. Let’s take an example. As Muslims, our obligations are doing five times pray; shubuh, dzuhur, asher, maghrib and isya’. To do this, we have to know what is must, mustn't, should, shouldn't in our pray. To be a great person in linguist, we have to learn phonology, semantics, morphology, syntax and many more. To be a Doctor we have to be expert in taxonomy, virology, microbiology, and many more. Knowing what to do to perform our obligation properly is also our obligation. Ma yutawasolu bihi ila iqomatil wajib fahual wajib.

Besides ilmul hal, we also need to learn ilmu ahwalil qulub; science which concerns with our mentality inside, between us, ourselves, and Allah S.W.T. Such as; be patient in facing Allah line of destiny and also always has a good prejudice at Allah.
The last but not least is ilmul ahlaq; science which concerns with our mentality among humans. Foe example; be friendly, have some respect for others, sincere and lots more. 
These three science should be combined and perform a unity in shape. These are the three main points of education.

We cannot deny that the quality of our education is still poor. It is a fact that our education achievement is at the bottom within South-East Asia countries, even we are left behind our neighbours. There are many problems in our education system. Let me give some examples: many teachers are poorly trained both in their subject matters and in teaching skills, our teachers’ salaries are low, our education fee is still expensive, and also other crucial problems related with the curriculum, national exam (UN), and teacher certification.


Our education policy merely is touching the outside layer. It’s only focused on ilmul hal with a small part for ilmul ahwalil qulub and lmul ahlaq. As a proof, the public school only gives an hour in one week for ”Agama” Class. Our education system only educates Indonesian people from outside not inside. The results are, corruption everywhere; Gayus Tambunan, Anggodo Widjojo, Artalita Suryani, the doctor only serves the rich and abandon the poor, the teachers are too busy with their certifications and dispose their students, and lots of other cases which indicates our awful mentality.

To build Indonesian people we need the three education aspects; ilmul hal to equipt our society with skill and ability to chase our behind, ilmul ahwalil qulub to teach us not to be pessimistic in facing life and Allah’s faith, and ilmul ahlaq to teach how to behave as a civilise people.

To end this, I'll quote a wise expression:“Ta’allam! Fainnal ilma zainun liahlihi. Wa fadzlun wa unwanun likullil mahamidi. Wa kun mustafidan kulla yaumin ziyadatan minal ilmi. Wasbah fi buhuril fawa’idi”. Science is a precious treasure for their owner. Science is also an assist and glory for every greatness been created. Make sure your each day worth by adding knowledge and sink in the sea of wonder, because learning, studying, gaining knowledge is a never ending duty, since we’ve been able to cry until we die.


Note: It is addapted from Ta'limul Muta'allim by Syeikh Zarnuji

Silence Tear
For situ gintung


Inside a peace night
People were sleeping tight
Dreams put his right
It came


Without sound and less warn
It took our warm
Why you passed
Just to take life


It wasn’t disaster
It was just our indifferent
Careless and didn’t care others


It happens again and again
What’s wrong with this nation
Lots of tear and sadness sudden
Made us week and beg pity from foreign


Asking why no answer reply
Was there hope
Or cloud still showed

IMPEACHMENT GUS DUR; Memoir Santri

Masa itu adalah masa terakhir bersatunya NU dibawah satu suara, sekiranya itulah yang dapat penulis ingat. Penulis masih setahun nyantri di Alfalah Ploso Mojo Kediri ketika KH. Abdurrahman Wahid di Impeach dari kursi kepresidenan. Suasana saat itu genting; genting versi pesantren adalah tawa yang tersendat-sendat. Di Ploso waktu itu terjadi sesuatu yang tidak lazim. Kami santri biasa bisa memonitor perkembangan detik-detik terakhir apa yang terjadi di Jakarta, entah lewat TV atau cerita dari pejabat-pejabat kantor Pesantren pada waktu itu-bandingkan dengan berita WTC yang kami baru mendengarnya lima hari pasca bencana (Ploso adalah Pesantren salaf yang memiliki aturan melarang para santri membaca koran karena dikhawatirkan akan “menganggu” aktifitas belajar). Santri resah apa yang mesti mereka perbuat saat kyai nya dilecehkan. Mereka gelisah karena jauhnya jarak dan tibakah mereka tepat waktu. Mereka menunggu keputusan kyai mereka; Apakah berangkat seluruhnya? Apakah hanya santri-santri pilihan? Atau cukup dengan kirim do’a saja?.


Banyak hal yang harus dipertimbangkan para kyai pada hari itu. Isu Bughot (pemberontakan) yang dialamatkan pada Amin Rais, stabilitas bangsa dan negara, dan banyak lagi yang kami para santri kurang paham. Para kyai membuat itung-itungan sendiri, kami pun juga. Penulis waktu itu mulai menghitung berapa kekuatan Ploso, Lirboyo, dan Pesantren-pesantren besar lainnya. Di otak penulis terbersit itung-itungan untung rugi dan menang-menangan ala anak muda. Ploso pada waktu itu memiliki santri kira-kira 4 sampai 5 ribuan. Kalau Ploso 5 ribu Lirboyo antara 10 sampai 15 ribu dan pondok-pondok besar dan kecil lainnya, jumlah santri dari jatim saja bisa mencapai angka 50 ribu mungkin lebih (perlu dicatat bahwa era Presiden Gus Dur adalah era membeludaknya jumlah santri di Pesantren manapun). Dari jumlah itu kira-kira 10 % nya adalah santri dengan kemampuan khusus. Penulis membayangkan di Jakarta nanti kami berhadapan dengan tentara,katakanlah, 20 ribu petugas keamanan dan mungkin lebih. Dengan bantuan santri Jateng, Jabar, dan mungkin alumni-alumni tentunya kami akan dengan sangat mudah menaklukkan mereka-ini adalah imajinasi belaka.


Darah muda mulai merangkak naik keatas ubun-ubun kami para santri kala itu. Mungkin kita semua lebih mudah membayangkan apa yang bisa dilakukan oleh golongan Islam garis keras yang mengobrak-ngabrik tempat prostitusi, hiburan malam dan lain sebagainya-karena menggerakkan lelaki dengan janji surga dan taruhan agama lebih mudah daripada uang. Tapi bagamana jika yang diberangkatkan ke medan tersebut para santri dengan kyai-kyai yang satu suara. Takkan terbayangkan betapa "mandi"nya ucapan para kyai kala hal seperti itu terjadi. Dengan tanpa bekal disiplin ala militer atau iming-iming uang dan nasi bungkus ala parlemen jalanan yang sewaan (penulis beri penjelasan demikian agar tidak terjadi salah paham dengan parlemen jalanan yang beneran), tapi hanya berbekal dawuh kyai, para santri akan memenuhi setiap sudut jakarta (mungkin karena itulah para kyai selalu terpecahbelah atau memang harus di pecah belah). Penulis yakin Tentara Nasional Indonesia akan bimbang menghadapi kaum bersarung dalam jumlah besar.


Tapi apa yang kami bayangkan, bahkan mungkin diharapkan oleh sebagian santri yang kurang berkepala dingin, tidak terjadi. Pertunjukkan kesatuan suara dalam dunia perkyaian dalam menggerakkan santri tidak akan kita saksikan lagi pasca perang kemerdekaan, atau mungkin G 30 S/PKI. Kami para santri hanya diwajibkan berkumpul di masjid untuk mujahadah dan berdo’a bagi keselamatan bangsa dan negara pada umumnya dan Gus dur pada khususnya. Bukan hanya Ploso yang melakukan hal ini, tapi semua pesantren di seluruh Indonesia. Kami berpikir bahwa para kyai "ngeman" kami para santri dan lebih mementingkan stabilitas Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.


Pasca kejadian itu, di suatu sore di hari kamis penulis pulang kerumah untuk mengambil bekal. Ada banyak hal yang ingin penulis dengar saat tiba di rumah. Ternyata benar sangkaan hati. Banyak cerita yang beredar perihal hari di lengserkannya Gus Dur pada waktu itu. Mulai tingkah para orang sakti yang ingin membunuh ketua MPR-salah satunya konon memiliki kemampuan untuk membunuh musuhnya dalam jarak tak terhingga dengan hanya memanggil namanya, seketika orang tersebut menjawab panggilan seketika itu pula ia akan meninggal-meskipun hal ini tidak sampai dilakukan “hanya” karena larangan Kyainya, sampai kisah kekecewaan Nahdliyin Jatim yang diarahkan pada PWNU Jabar karena terkesan “membiarkan” hal tersebut terjadi, sampai sekarangpun penulis masih belum memahami apa yang bisa dan tidak bisa mereka lakukan kala itu. Wallohu A’lam bis showab.