Has Shock Doctrine Found Its Way Home?

We have been presented so many stories and facts about global financial crisis which was said initially rooted in subprime credits provided loosely in the United States. I have read in some websites explaining about what subprime credit means. Principally subprime credit means a credit provided by US mortgage banking to group of debtors called NINJA. In this case Ninja has no relationship to what we know as Japanese Ninja. NINJA stands for No Income No Job and No Assets. So evidently, the banking industrialists in US, especially the ones engaging as mortgage banks have committed irresponsible banking practices, i.e., evidently violated the 5C banking principles which every economy school student must have known. Anyway, subprime credit only one of many other causes of the financial market crisis in US and now global financial market.

Antony Mueller, founder of the

Continental Economics Institute said:
“The current economic disaster is the result of the combination of negligence, hubris, and wrong economic theory. For decades, an economic and monetary policy has been practiced based on the illusion of, "It doesn't matter." At first it was, "Deficits don't matter." From that, the policy of "it doesn't matter" got extended to money creation, the credit expansion, the stock-market bubble, and the housing boom. Now, we're being told that buying financial junk by the central bank to beef up banks and brokerages also doesn't matter.”

I am interested in finding the real cause of this financial market crisis. For I am neither a financial expert nor an economist, I tried to find all the information here and there. One of the references that really impressed me was a book written by Naomi Klein titled Shock Doctrine. This situation is exactly described well in her book. The difference is on the crisis spot, if most of the crisis detailed in the book happened in almost every place other than United States, now, it happened right in the core of the USA.

To me, this crisis is rooted from the combination of greediness, laziness, stinginess and selfishness. I am a believer of a theory where money and prosperity can be generated only by employment, people economic. The more employments, the better. As we may not forget that most people are living in sub-poor to middle class society, no exception for Indonesia or USA. No country on earth is able to eliminate poor level society to zero percent. I do not believe in money work mechanism as normally applicable under capitalism (which I suspect referred to as wrong economic theory by Antony Mueller) where the money put in the bank and let other people use the money somewhere and we receive handsome interest payment regularly.

To gain something we have to work, no doubt about it. It is the obligation of Government in every country to provide employment to its people. Now, what we can expect in Indonesia, no significant infrastructure has been developed. How can people generate income if they do not have work to do? No wonder criminal cases are increased, most drugs related business are very tempting to desperate people in this kind of situation.

After the cold war era, most countries have changed their faces from pink or red color regime to capitalist regime of economy. Under the capitalist regime as dreamt and urged by Milton Friedman, the guru of Chicago School Economy, the economy will find its balance if there is no intervention whatsoever from government. This idea has inspired the trend of privatization all over the world, affected and dictated by Friedmanist cronies, known as Chicago Boys in South part of America or popular as Berkeley Mafia here in Indonesia, of course.

It is hard for me to understand as to why we should accept the idea that privatization is the solution to the crisis while we all know that many of those state companies being privatized were money machines that support state finance. Anyway, I am just pretending naively, of course the more privatizations, the more controls those sharks will hold. The sharks called multi national companies. Of course there is interesting upside of certain amount of commissions for brokers known as international investment banks or more like piranhas. It is all about money, nothing else.

It is so ironical, that last time we have financial crisis in 1998, IMF has eventually successfully pushed some kind of financial rescue package or known as ‘structural adjustment’ which includes deregulations in investment law, tightening of monetary policy, deduction of subsidy and privatization of state owned companies. Many of our important and strategic state companies have been privatized, including banking sectors. Now we will see when those private sectors suffered from huge bad debts, it might be the time for government to step in, bail out the debt. Perhaps, when those companies become healthy again, then there will be another design to take over them by international private companies.

During my office at IBRA doing some debt restructuring before finally selling them off, I witnessed that the financial crisis in Indonesia and most Asia countries have weakened our economy which then weakened the political position of Indonesian government at that time. IMF showed up as the ‘hero’ in providing a loan to rescue the situation. Anyway, it came not without something. In line with shock doctrine theory the IMF saw the crisis as the opportunity to apply the theory in practice, such as deregulations in investment law, removing trade barriers, minimizing government interference in market, cutting out subsidy or lowering social spending and privatization.

Given the experience in 1998, I started to think maybe this time IMF will drop by to the United States and lend its powerful hands to the US government, with the cost and implications of course to be borne by lowest level of society in the USA. It will be interesting to observe how IMF will work its ‘structural adjustment’ in its homeland. Will it have a heart to hurt people of the country which have supported it since the beginning? or is it just another bad luck for American people, just as happened to us in Indonesia.

I think it is not totally untrue what Antony Mueller said:
“The current financial crisis is not of a cyclical nature. The financial turmoil is the symptom of the structural imbalances in the real economy. Over decades, expansive monetary policy has gone hand in hand with implicit and explicit bailout guarantees, and this has distorted the process of capital allocation. Under such perverted conditions, those investors will win most who cast away the restraints of prudence. It is a game that can go on for a long time — up to the point when the irrationality has become systemic.”

Is it really the phenomenon of the downfall of capitalism or is it the domino effects that ‘certain people’ wish to get in the end? We will find out later.

By: Nela Dusan (Gusnelia Tartiningsih)
Rasuna, 13 October 2008

In memoriam Ibu Retty Surjanah

Innalillahi wa innailaihi rojiun...

Baru kemarin siang kita semua alumni SMA Negeri 31 angkatan 87 ketemu menyambung silaturahmi, sempat terselip percakapan dengan beberapa teman yang menyebut nama almarhumah, bahkan Sri sempat bercerita menanyakan sesuatu kepada ibu Syafrida mengenai almarhumah, meskipun sempat terbersit keingintahuan tapi entah kenapa pertanyaan itu tidak terucap. Kenapa dengan ibu Retty? Sakitkah atau ada hal lain? Sungguh tidak sampai lidah ini bertanya.

Hari ini saya baca email dari Jack, ibu Retty sudah tiada. Ibu Retty punya tempat tersendiri di hati saya, sejenak memori melambung kembali ke tahun 86-87, seperti putaran proyektor. Ada saya dengan seragam putih abu2, terkadang (sering sebenarnya) dengan Umar (semoga masih ingat ya Mar), berdiri berhadapan dengan beliau, dengan pertanyaan yang sama, jawaban yang sama dan hukuman yang bervariasi. Semua dengan kesalahan yang itu-itu juga, selalu terlambat.

Bagi saya saat itu, kepala sekolah kita itu jauh dari tokoh ideal seorang guru yang memenuhi kriteria kita pada jaman itu. Orangnya kaku, galak, sangat disiplin (apalagi buat saya yg sangat serampangan saat itu), lurus, to the point, tidak menganggap popularitas sekolah sesuatu yang penting dibangun, seperti halnya dia tidak menganggap penting menjadi populer atau tidak di mata anak didiknya.

Lihat apa yang sudah dia lakukan untuk SMA 31 saat itu, khususnya tahun angkatan kita, pencapaian yang sampai saat ini masih saya rasakan fantastis, terutama untuk ukuran sekolah yang berlokasi di pelosok seperti itu lebih dari 170 anak mendapat tempat di berbagai universitas negeri dan STAN. Bahkan barangkali jumlah anak 31 yang masuk FHUI pada tahun 87 merupakan jumlah terbanyak, melebihi sekolah2 ngetop lain di Jakarta ini. Tapi, kita tidak terbiasa menyombongkan diri di luar (barangkali karena tidak tahu caranya), kita terbiasa diajarkan bersikap sederhana, sesederhana kepala sekolahnya. Saya kira ibu Retty secara diam-diam telah mengajarkan kepada kita semua mengenai kesederhanaan dan kesahajaan sikap. Tanpa kata-kata beliau mengajarkan kita melalui contoh, sikap hidupnya sendiri, ntah saya yang kuper atau tidak update informasi, tapi yang jelas saya tidak pernah mendengar selentingan atau gosip apapun mengenai komersialisme atau konsurmerisme dalam kehidupannya, tidak selama yang saya kenal beliau.

Kita adalah anak-anak sekolah 'kampung' yang mampu berdiri sejajar dengan anak-anak jebolan sekolah top dimanapun dibelahan lain di Jakarta ini. Meskipun memiliki kepala sekolah yang sangat keras, namun saya tidak bisa memungkiri kenyataan bahwa masa tiga tahun saya di SMA 31 merupakan salah satu masa dalam hidup ini yang ingin saya kenang sampai saya jompo nanti, dan pasti ibu Retty, tokoh sentral kehidupan saya saat itu, tidak akan lepas dari pembicaraan saya. Selamat jalan ibu Retty Surjanah, semoga Allah mengampuni dosa dan kekhilafan Ibu dan menerima semua amal ibadah Ibu yang tulus. Amin.

Simple Philosophy of the Pencil

Nice analogy. I love it. This comes from the book written by Paulo Coelho, Like the Flowing River. I really love reading one of the chapters. It's about the philosophy of pencil which was told by a grandma to her grandson. The following is not an exact excerpt, but it is taken from the book.

Here we go.

Pencil has five qualities which, if we manage to hang on to them, will make each of us a person who is always at peace with the world. They are:

First quality: like pencil, we are capable of great things but we must never forget that there is a hand guiding our steps. We call that hand God. He always guides us according to His will.

Second quality: now and then, we have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, it is much sharper. So we, too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they make us better persons.

Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside us.

Fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, we should know that everything we do in life will leave a mark, so try to be concious of that in our every action.

Quite true, isn't it?

Nela Dusan

Rasuna, 23 October 2008

Amazing Race, Amazing Life

Now, every Thursday evening, I have my favorite TV show broadcasted. Since last week, the reality show, Amazing Race Asia the 3rd has started. 10 finest teams across Asia have been selected and have competed in a race which sometimes pushes the racers to the bottom limit of their endurance, mentally and physically.

Ever since I saw the series of Amazing Race Asia or America, I kept mumbling when I finished watching the show, ‘so amazing, what amazing race’. I found it brilliant to create such a reality show. Moreover, I found the show title exactly reflects it, ‘Amazing Race’, it really is.

I saw participants that represent Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippine, Thailand, India, and Korea, but I saw none from Indonesia. Imagine, 200-million population country. Even Malaysia, whose population only 10% of Indonesia, has successfully sent its two couple of racers in this third Amazing Race Asia and so far, they have done impressively.

In the first and second Amazing Race, Indonesia had participants. Even in the first Amazing Race, the Indonesian brothers were able to keep up until the second last round, being the fourth best team out of ten teams. If we followed their races from the start until the pit stop in Dubai, in which they finally had to give up, we would be very proud of them and it was a heartbreaking to see they just lost it. Anyway, they had tried so hard.

Now, let us see this third Amazing Race Asia. Where are Indonesians? Are we that pathetic as no pair of Indonesian competent enough to lead their way and be equal with other Asian representatives?

It is so ironic, while the Amazing Race is designed to reach the bottom limit of mental and physical endurance of men; the race has been joined by people who might know nothing about the hardness of life. They come from middle to high level of society of countries which might be not as poor as Indonesia. Then, why Indonesian who would have used to live in such a hardship could not let them pass the qualification of the race. The race which is specially designed to go beyond normal life, the kind of life most Indonesian experiences daily. With everything is so difficult around us, high price, low income, things and pressure you should cope with as long as you live in Indonesia, actually Indonesian should have mentally prepared racers. Does it not sound like challenges in Amazing Race only it happens all the time in our actual life? Or, perhaps the big political event in 2009 affects it. Maybe, the best of our people are now concentrating for the amazing race of Indonesian version in the 2009 election. There is no time to participate in such Amazing Race reality show.

Another irony, when the difficulties are intentionally created to be conquered, we are absent. Yet, when such hardship has been successfully coped with by other Asian nations, particularly ASEAN countries, Indonesia still could not get a grip let alone get up. While to others the hardship and challenges of life have become TV show, we are experiencing them without camera let alone rewards.

Why could not we find just two finest Indonesian people that can represent their 200 million brothers in the third Amazing Race Asia? Perhaps, because to us, the hardship is not a TV show but it is part of the life itself. So, why bother to participate in such a race and be watched in TV. Still, I keep wondering why there could not be just two Indonesian people taking part in the race of Asian people.

In the show, every participant is pushed and forced to keep up with and complete the race. Even though they have to go through the night without sleeps. No unfinished race is allowed, every challenge must be dealt with conclusively to enable the racers to reach every pit stop. It is interesting to learn how men can endure under such circumstances amazingly.

In Amazing Race, both Asia and America, the pressures can dismantle and uncover the real character of its participants. There are patient, tolerant persons or emotional and moody kind of persons. We sometimes see some kind of mean and rude persons, pathetic persons, weak or kind of a blaming on other person type of people. They sometimes use very tricky and evil strategies to get rid off their competitors just to reach pit stop earlier than others. The rule of the game is so simple, never finish last at every pit stop, otherwise you will be eliminated. So simple, yet the process to achieve it very much startling and so hard. It is said that this particular Amazing Race Asia is the toughest race ever.

One of the interesting facts is nice team tends to be the winner of each race episode. Actually, it takes more than just brain or even muscles. It gets a complex formula to win the race. Internal factors that can drive the couple to win the race are solid cooperation between partners, trust in each other, be dependent on and relied upon on each other at the same time. High motivation and fighting spirit in every racer also contributes a lot to the success.

All teams have equal opportunity to win or lose because nobody can control external factors, such as delay in transportation, no public transportation available, unnecessary miscommunication with drivers can cause a team be eliminated. Any team can finish first at one pit stop but it can also be the second last team who arrived at another pit stop or even the last team arrived then eliminated.

I see similarities between Amazing Race and our lives as human being, regardless nationality. In the Amazing Race, we have to fight to avoid being the last team who reaches the pit stop and eventually struggle to be number one at the final pit stop at the end of the race season. In life, we often encounter challenges and race into competitions, fair or unfair ones.

Notwithstanding the complex factors, internally and externally, it was proven that during the first Amazing Race, the Indonesian couple could keep up their fight before giving up at the last two pit stops during the first Amazing Race Asia because they had counted more on their brain, rather than their muscles. Analogically, our nation, being one of the racers, is likely to win the fight of this life if we use our brain instead of muscles. Just like Amazing Race, the life is also affected by brain superiority, namely, planning, preparation, strategy and implementation.
Ironically, it seems that in our nation life muscles have dominated more than brain. The pathetic fact is when other Asian countries could get up and reach out from the crisis in 1998, as it happens now in the United States, Indonesian seems to go nowhere as it was 10 years ago. Where do we go wrong?

If we compare it with the Amazing Race in which every racer must finish the challenges conclusively, regardless how long it takes to finish it, it seems Indonesian people have failed or at least have not successfully concluded its challenges and reached its pit stop. Our nation has not completed the homework attributable to the crisis which has been suffered since ten years ago. Whilst, other countries have reached their pit stops quite long ago. It seems if we have not dealt with our home works conclusively, namely, domestic economy, social and political problems, it is likely that we will be the last team who reaches the pit stop.

Despite the similarities between Amazing Race and the amazing life, there is a significant difference. As to Amazing Race, it is so important to try hard to be the first and avoid being the last, there is no such a thing in real life. It does not matter whether we start first or last as long as we can reach pit stop safely. Without prejudice to other countries’ problems, it is possible that problems they faced were less complex than ours. The point is, no matter what, we have to try hard to solve our problems. We have to start to confide in each other and show others that we can be relied upon and trustworthy as much as we expect other people vice versa, for the sake of our nation.

Taking into account all the external factors, there is no guarantee that the existing more advanced countries will stay advance forever or Indonesia can not chase them one day. There is always a chance that Indonesia can position itself in an equal level to other countries.

So, it is clear that it takes more than just a bunch of brainy people to lead this nation but people who have vision and sense of nationalism, people who are humble enough to set aside their personal, group or foreign agenda for the sake of this nation survival in the amazing race of this precious life. It is okay if our country gets up a bit later than other countries, as long as we settle our challenges and ready to move toward next pit stops.

As it is in Amazing Race, let us hope that the next pit stop will not make our nation be eliminated. Just as the popular tag line of the host of Amazing Race, “The last team checks in may be eliminated”. How is it Indonesia?

Rasuna, 18 September 2008
Nela Dusan

A Nightmare to Ibu Kartini's Dream

Most of students or children in Indonesia are familiar with a special day that comes in the month of April, precisely 21 April. Every year schools will celebrate Kartini Day. Just to refresh our memory, in case some of us have already forgotten, Kartini was a heroine to Indonesian women.

Kartini had broken the traditional way of thinking commonly existed at that time that girls were not entitled to have equal opportunity for education liked boys. One of traditional values lived during that old times was girls or female gender stayed at home and there was no room for women outside their houses. Those views were shared among people at all level, even in the aristocratic family liked Kartini’s family, let alone the commoners. Kartini had successfully opened the eyes of society at that time that females did have the right to have the equality in education.

Kartini lived in the era in which the discrimination of sex or gender was quite a normal view. At that time, women were the second or even third class of people in society. Girls, Females or Women were appreciated more to their physical quality, such as sexual appearance, their fertility, the ability to get pregnant. There was not much room left for intelligence appreciation. However, Kartini was quite lucky that she married to a man who could appreciate women in a wider and positive sense. He accepted or even supported Kartini’s idea of improving women in educations.

To cut the long story short, let us see what happened today to most women in Indonesia. My mother went to school for girls back in Padang Panjang, near her hometown, called “Diniyah Putri”. It was during the 50’s era. So, it was like 50 years after the Kartini era. At least it proved that the fights fought by Kartini paid well.

Lately, I have seen a commercial ad of a consumer product on television. The promotion theme is “Play With Beauty”. I was interested in watching the commercial ad because of its attractive colors in interesting animation.

The ad showed the transformation from an ordinary decent girl or young lady to a super duper hot and sexy woman right after she found the product being commercialized. It is understandable that the transformation should be shockingly or extremely shown in the ad, taking into account they are promoting beauty product. Still, I do not think that the transformation from a decent person to a wild one would be the objective of the ad, or would it be?

The ad shows how the product made the girl or young woman become a hot and sexy lady walking like a Halle Berry in the Catwoman. She charmed all masculine figures around her, from a male squirrel to grandpas. Until that point I kept following the flow of the ad and waited with curiosity, what actually the ad tried to tell us. Finally, I found out that the confident sexy walks led her to her final destination after the transformation. It was a place where signboards showed “lounge”, “hotel”, etcetera. So there she goes, to the amusement centre, nightlife.

Simple conclusion: “If a simple girl has transformed to a pretty woman, she would end in the sparkling and glittering nightlife. Who else wants to feel such an experience?” Was that really the message that the ad maker wanted to convey? If yes, then the ad successfully conveyed it as my brain absorbed it well. If that was not what they meant then the ad was totally a failure. Is it true that beautiful women only fit to such a nightlife world? Can’t beautiful women find better and more respectful works or activities, other than being the object of male obsessed passion only? Are we heading back to the era before Kartini was even born? The era where women were treat like products.

Any ad broadcasted on television should have taught a moral value suitable to the ones that lived in people as targets of such ad, in this case Indonesia. If the ad did not send any certain moral value message, at least it should not encourage the spectators to ensue the actions which were conflicting with the moral values that lived in such society. I am of the opinion that the ad reflected the shallowness of people who involved in the creating of such ad. Unconsciously, this kind of hedonistic lifestyle will only benefit men more. And women will pay for it at the end of the day.

It was obvious that the ad showed how woman was harassed in a very cheerful way. Apparently, not many women seemed to be aware of that harassment but I felt insulted.

Surprisingly, we saw no reaction from Non Governmental Organization (NGO), particularly, women’s rights defender NGO as they felt the insult in such ad. Perhaps the understanding that the ad was classified as arts made those women defenders accepted it. I am not surprised if the women defenders NGO did not react in the name of human rights. It is a crazy world, if someone who posed naked in ‘public’ and some government guys made a fuss of it, this would soon drag so much reaction from people, especially women organization, NGOs. They all would fight on the same grounds, for the sake of human right and state of art.
It is so pity that some Indonesian women seemed to have lost their senses on when they should fight and when they should shut their mouth up. Perhaps this reflects the ironic reality on how many Indonesian women were confused to position themselves. On one hand, they refused to be harassed but on the other hand, some of them clearly needed such harassment to support their existence, so ironic.

I wrote this article without having any view that I am better person than other people, particularly the ad makers, as I am also sure that they are not thinking the same way either. I am just a spectator who watched their product and idea. Anyhow, I have a little daughter who also watched television; including the ad per se. Should we send those little innocent angels with false messages?

I believe there are many other ways to describe beauty rather than imprinting ‘be beautiful, then men will come after you”. Is it not a deceitful message that the beauty of a woman just to satisfy men’s desires?

Moreover, the ad gave false impression that the existence of women on this earth is just to please men, whilst we know that duties and missions of men and women as God’s creatures in this world are the same. Women are created with equal rights but now, women positioned themselves as servants of men in a very passionate but undoubtedly low way. It seems like some men have forgotten their extra duties and responsibility as heads of family, leaders to their folks, not predators.

Beauty without brain and decent moral value would not bring any good to the so- called beautiful woman and her society.

Generally speaking, all people know exactly how long the beauty could stay. After certain age when the beauty fades away, then what next? What a shallow point of view showed by the ad. Is it correct that in order to sell a certain retail product we should hurt dignity of women generally? If we failed to justify the sense and sensibility of a very short and simple television broadcast, how come some of us insisted to fight on the elimination of LSF (Lembaga Sensor Film/Film Sensor Body)? To me, the LSF is still needed. At least we still have a Body that protects the interest of group of people who do not want to watch such irresponsible and shallow television broadcasts.

Rasuna, 15 April 2008
Gusnelia Tartiningsih (Nela Dusan)

This article was published in Opinion column of Jakarta Post on 21 April 2008

MEMBERI ATAU DIBERI?

Terkadang kita menemui situasi dimana kita melupakan bahwa betapa banyaknya nikmat dari Allah Tuhan Semesta Alam yang telah kita terima selama ini. Dalam suatu percakapan pribadi antara saya dengan salah seorang teman mengenai ketidaksukaan teman saya itu terhadap tindakan suaminya yang meminjamkan uang kepada salah seorang saudaranya yang digambarkannya seorang pemalas yang bisanya membuat repot saudara.

Saya menanyakan kepada teman saya tersebut seperti apa gerangan kerepotan yang disebabkan oleh saudara iparnya itu. Menurut teman saya iparnya itu sungguh pemalas, sebenarnya dia mampu untuk mencari nafkah tetapi dia terlalu malas untuk berusaha.

Sebenarnya ucapan teman saya itu tidak salah juga, memang semestinya seorang manusia yang memiliki tanggung jawab kepada anak dan istrinya harus mau bekerja dan berusaha untuk mencari nafkah. Kuncinya hanyalah berusaha, karena Allah juga sudah menyebutkan dalam Al Qur’an, tidak akan berubah nasib suatu kaum jika kaum itu sendiri tidak berusaha mengubahnya. Sesungguhnya rejeki itu datang setelah kita berusaha, namun kita tidak bisa juga memastikan datangnya rejeki sepasti setelah kita selesai berusaha. Kewajiban manusia adalah berusaha sekuat tenaga, berdoa dan selanjutnya biarlah Allah Yang Maha Pemberi yang akan menentukan imbalan termasuk rejeki kepada hambaNya yang telah berusaha tadi, itulah salah satu bentuk sikap tawakal.

Saya tidak ingin membahas mengenai bentuk usaha atau kemalasan seseorang ataupun menilai apakah seseorang memenuhi kriteria kepantasan untuk mendapat bantuan dari orang lain. Saya hanya ingin membahas mengenai segala hal yang berada di bawah kendali kita masing-masing, sesuatu yang dapat kita putuskan apakah kita menginginkannya atau tidak, apakah kita mampu melakukannya atau tidak, tidak ada hubungan dengan manusia lainnya.

Sering saya berandai-andai dalam benak saya, jika kita renungkan sejenak betapa hidup ini sebenarnya sederhana, meskipun di dalam suatu masyarakat terdapat beragam kelas atau ‘kasta’, namun sebenarnya jika disimpulkan semuanya tidak lepas dari wujud tindakan ‘memberi atau diberi”.

Jika kita dihadapkan pada suatu pertanyaan apakah kita lebih menginginkan posisi memberi atau posisi diberi? Saya pribadi selalu bergidik jika membayangkan pertanyaan itu dihadapkan kepada saya. Demi Allah yang Surga berada dalam genggamanNya, jawaban dari pertanyaan itu tidak semudah menjalaninya. Bagi saya pribadi, insyaa Allah jawaban ini bukan jawaban yang keliru, saya lebih memilih memberi. Mungkin para teman dan sahabat saya mentertawakan saya, tentu saja, siapa yang tidak ingin memberi yang notabene berada dalam posisi mampu atau istilah awamnya ‘kaya’.

Jika kita pilah dua kata kerja pasif dan aktif ini sesungguhnya membawa konsekuensi yang luar biasa seriusnya. Saya juga tidak ingin membahas bagaimana caranya menjadi golongan ‘memberi’ alias orang kaya, saya hanya ingin kita saling mengingatkan apakah artinya menjadi seorang kaya, tanpa berpikir saya merupakan salah satu dari golongan tersebut.

Kekayaan merupakan suatu yang sangat relatif, kaya bagi saya barangkali baru sekedar sejumlah uang sebesar satu hari bunga bank bagi sekelompok orang atau teman-teman yang lain. Miskin menurut ukuran saya bisa jadi menyangkut suatu jumlah uang yang merupakan satu bulan bahkan satu tahun bahkan seumur hidup penghasilan bagi seseorang. Jadi sungguh tidak ada gunanya mempermasalahkan kaya atau miskin dalam hal ini.

Kebanyakan orang barangkali memilih jawaban yang sama dengan saya, yaitu memberi karena identik dengan kekayaan duniawi, setidaknya menurut kacamata masing-masing. Perlu kita sama-sama ingat bahwa posisi memberi dan diberi merupakan hak prerogatif Allah SWT setelah mendengarkan doa dan melihat usaha kita tentunya.

Saya ingin kita meninjau posisi kita masing-masing dalam pemetaan hidup ini, apakah konsekuensi dari status ‘memberi’. Jika kita kebetulan dalam posisi ‘memberi’ tentunya kita harus selalu mensyukuri segala rahmat dan rejeki yang telah dilimpahkanNYa kepada kita, sehingga kita termasuk ke dalam golongan manusia yang telah dilebihkan rejekinya (tidak berarti kita jadi boleh tidak bersyukur jika kebetulan dalam posisi bukan memberi). Namun, dalam prakteknya secara sadar atau tidak, kita seringkali bersikap tidak amanah dan mengingkari janji yang telah ‘built in’ dalam setiap rejeki yang kita peroleh tersebut. Sekedar tanya, kira-kira apa konsekuensi yang akan kita hadapi nantinya?

Jika kita seorang bendahara atau pejabat dalam suatu departemen pemerintah bersikap tidak amanah, maka KPK akan siap menjerat kita. Jika kita seorang bendahara atau pimpinan suatu perusahaan swasta yang telah bersikap tidak amanah terhadap tugas kita, tentunya akan ke polisi jugalah urusannya. Sekarang, jika kita tidak amanah terhadap peranan kita sebagai pemberi yang sebenarnya tidak lebih dari penyalur atau distributor rejeki yang sudah dialirkan melalui kita oleh Allah SWT, gerangan konsekuensi seperti apakah yang akan menunggu kita?

Allah, Zat Yang Maha Pengasih dan Pemurah, Dia juga seorang raja ilmu matematika yang tentunya tidak akan pernah salah perhitungannya. Jika kita sering khawatir mengenai ketelitian para auditor internal atau eksternal yang dapat menemukan kesalahan-kesalahan kita, kenapa pula kita bisa melenggang pongah dari perhitungan raja dari segala raja auditor di alam semesta ini, termasuk yang akan mengaudit para auditor yang ‘menyeramkan’ yang ada di BPK atau BPKP Indonesia ini sekalipun kelak di hari Pembalasan.

Dibalik status memberi terkandung sikap kesadaran untuk menjalankan amanah dari Allah yang sebenarnya termasuk dalam salah satu doa yang sering kita panjatkan kepada Allah SWT, “ya Allah limpahilah aku rejeki yang halal, berkahilah hidupku…dsb”. Lantas setelah rejeki itu diturunkan olehNya, kita bersikap mengingkari pada saat berhadapan dengan manusia lain yang sedang dalam kesulitan. Bagaimana jika orang yang dalam kesulitan itu dikirimkan oleh Allah SWT untuk menguji kita? Hidup berkah yang seperti apa yang kita impikan, jika untuk membantu orang dalam kesulitanpun kita enggan.

Terkadang kita merasionalkan segala alasan sehingga menjadikannya alasan yang valid untuk menolak membantu mereka. Misalnya, kita berdalih, “saya telah bekerja keras sehingga sudah selayaknya saya menikmati hasilnya, sedangkan mereka adalah kaum pemalas.” Atau, “bagaimana saya bisa tahu kalau harta yang saya tinggalkan cukup untuk masa depan anak saya?” Jawabannya tentu saja tidak kita ketahui, namun urusan anak-anak, apalagi yang masih dibawah umur, yang kita tinggalkan merupakan urusan mereka yang hidup. Dalam banyak tempat Allah berfirman mengenai hak anak yatim, kewajiban bersikap amanah terhadap harta mereka sampai mereka mampu mengurus sendiri harta peninggalan orang tua mereka bahkan lengkap dengan ancaman neraka jahannam bagi yang melalaikannya. Sesungguhnya Allah telah menyatakan jaminan-jaminan tersebut, haruskah kita mempertanyakannya lagi dengan bersikap menimbun harta bagi anak-anak kita.

Kita semua memiliki kecerdasan intelektual dan spiritual dalam menilai kepatutan suatu bantuan dengan mempertimbangkan kemampuan kita masing-masing. Jika kita menyadari bahwa kita berada dalam kondisi mampu, hendaklah berlapang hati untuk memberikan bantuan tersebut, tanpa dasar riya, namun demi memperoleh ridho Allah SWT. Bukan perkara sulit bagi Allah untuk membalik nasib seseorang dari miskin menjadi kaya, semudah membalik nasib seorang yang kaya raya menjadi miskin papa dan hina.

[3.180]
Sekali-kali janganlah orang-orang yang bakhil dengan harta yang Allah berikan kepada mereka dari karunia-Nya menyangka, bahwa kebakhilan itu baik bagi mereka. Sebenarnya kebakhilan itu adalah buruk bagi mereka. Harta yang mereka bakhilkan itu akan dikalungkan kelak di lehernya di hari kiamat. Dan kepunyaan Allah-lah segala warisan (yang ada) di langit dan di bumi. Dan Allah mengetahui apa yang kamu kerjakan.

Terkadang kita dihadapkan pada situasi dimana kita mencurigai ketulusan atau kebenaran cerita dibalik suatu kebutuhan saudara atau teman kita yang meminta bantuan kepada kita, bagi saya sepanjang kita punya kemampuan untuk membantu, biarlah hal itu menjadi persoalan dan tanggung jawab antara orang tersebut dengan Allah SWT. Insya Allah, perbuatan kita membantu dia tidak juga mengurangi rejeki yang dialirkan kepada kita. Bahkan besar kemungkinannya jumlah uang yang diperoleh oleh seorang melalui jalur manipulasi tersebut tidak juga membawa berkah, apalagi menjadikannya lebih kaya dari sebelumnya. Yang terpenting bagi kita adalah sikap amanah, kita telah menjalankan amanah yang menyertai harta kita sebagai wujud rasa syukur kita karena Allah memilih kita untuk berada dalam posisi ‘memberi’.
Jika membahas masalah ini kita berpedoman pula pada hadis Rasullulah mengenai “Tangan diatas lebih baik daripada tangan dibawah” (H.R. Bukhari Muslim). Sungguh menjadi mampu layak dicita-citakan oleh setiap orang, namun kesadaran akan konsekuensi dari kemampuan tersebut yang selalu harus kita ingat. Namun, menjadi mampu atau kaya bukanlah tujuan hidup ini. Kondisi mampu bisa kita jadikan ladang amal bagi kita. Harta bagi seorang manusia beriman akan memiliki arti pada saat orang itu masih bernyawa. Sungguh naif jika kita berpikir harta itu berguna bagi anak cucu kita sementara justru tidak memberi manfaat bahkan mendatangkan mudharat bagi akhirat kita sendiri, naudzubillah minzalik. Hanya amal ibadah kita yang dapat menolong kita dari neraka jahannam, bukan harta yang kita tumpuk saat ini. Karenanya, marilah kita berdoa semoga kita termasuk ke dalam golongan yang pandai menafkahkan harta kita di jalan Allah agar berguna bagi modal kita di akhirat nantinya.
Kita harus bisa menjadikan harta yang kita miliki saat ini sebagai penambah amal ibadah kita, seperti amal ibadah seorang guru yang ikhlas kepada muridnya, seorang dokter yang rendah hati kepada pasiennya, seorang alim ulama memberikan pencerahan kepada umatnya. Jika ada seorang kaya yang kebetulan tidak dilimpahi kelebihan dalam suatu ilmu yang bermanfaat yang bisa dibagikan atau diamalkannya, dia justru tetap dapat membawa berkah bagi orang lain dengan jalan menafkahkan hartanya di jalan Allah, bersedekah, membantu sesama saudara dan manusia lainnya. Namun sebagian dari kita malah bersikap riya, bermaksiat atau malah bergiat mengkoleksi istri atau wanita seperti layaknya mengkoleksi mobil-mobil atau motor-motor mewah.

[2.195]
Dan belanjakanlah (harta bendamu) di jalan Allah, dan janganlah kamu menjatuhkan dirimu sendiri ke dalam kebinasaan, dan berbuat baiklah, karena sesungguhnya Allah menyukai orang-orang yang berbuat baik.

Tidak jarang seorang manusia justru menjadi binasa setelah meraih kekayaan yang tidak terbayangkan sebelumnya. Saya menganggap hal tersebut sungguh ironis, karena sebagian manusia bercita-cita menjadi kaya karena kelelahan akibat kemiskinan yang terus mendera. Sesungguhnya Allah memberikan kita semua cobaan melalui kekayaan dan kemiskinan. Kekayaan tanpa kesadaran dan akal cenderung menyebabkan manusia menjadi pongah, sombong dan tamak. Salah satu penyakit hati, yaitu kesombongan, merupakan penyakit hati yang telah terbukti membinasakan sejak dari jaman nabi Adam AS hingga hari ini.

[47.38]
Ingatlah, kamu ini orang-orang yang diajak untuk menafkahkan (hartamu) pada jalan Allah. Maka di antara kamu ada orang yang kikir, dan siapa yang kikir sesungguhnya dia hanyalah kikir terhadap dirinya sendiri. Dan Allah-lah yang Maha Kaya sedangkan kamulah orang-orang yang membutuhkan (Nya); dan jika kamu berpaling niscaya Dia akan mengganti (kamu) dengan kaum yang lain, dan mereka tidak akan seperti kamu (ini).

Marilah kita merenungkan kembali sikap dan posisi kita dalam peta kehidupan ini, janganlah kita berdoa agar berada di posisi ‘memberi’ namun bersikap ‘diberi’ jika berhadapan dalam situasi dimana kita harus membantu sesama manusia. Semoga Allah SWT melimpahkan hidayahNya kepada kita semua sehingga kita bisa bijaksana dalam menjalaninya.

Rasuna, 31 Agustus 2008
Nela Dusan (Gusnelia Tartiningsih)

DOA DI USIA 40

Dalam diam aku mendengar tanya
Apakah yang kuinginkan sebagai kado ulang tahunku?
Hari ini genap usiaku 40 tahun
Usia yang baik untuk memulai hidup

Aku memimpikan hari dimana aku masih memiliki kesempatan
Untuk mendatangi Tuhanku
Memohon ampun dan berdoa kepadaNya
Aku mengharapkan Tuhan memanjangkan nyawaku
Agar sampai hari ulang tahunku yang ke 40
Karena aku tahu saat itu hari yang bakal membawa berkah bagiku
Hari yang baik untuk memulai hidup

Ya Allah, aku memohon ampun kepadaMu
Permohonan ampun seorang manusia yang tidak tahu malu
Ampuni aku ya Rabbi untuk semua kebodohan dan kesia-siaan yang kulakukan
Dalam paruh hidupku

Ya Allah, aku berdoa kepadaMu
Permohonan doa seoarang anak yang boleh jadi sempat durhaka
Kepada kedua orang tuanya, semasa hidup mereka
Aku bermohon doa kepadaMu,
Demi letih lelah bundaku membopongku selama sembilan bulan dalam kandungannya
Demi air susu bundaku yang membuatku dapat tumbuh menjadi balita
Demi air mata kesedihan bundaku menyaksikan kenakalanku
Demi air mata bundaku yang jatuh ke dalam melihatku semakin menjauh

Aku bermohon doa kepadaMu ya Rabbi,
Demi ketegaran ayahku membesarkanku
Demi kebijaksanaannya mengasuh dan mendidikku
Aku bermohon sangat kepadamu ya Rabbi,
Berilah mereka ampunanmu, kasihanilah ayah dan bundaku Ya Rabbi

Ya Allah, aku berdoa kepadaMu
Untuk keselamatan suami dan anakku
Masukkanlah anak cucuku ke dalam golongan mahlukMu yang kuat
Jangan engkau biarkan mereka menjadi kaum yang lemah,
yang mudah terperdaya hawa nafsu
Peliharakan mereka Ya Allah,
Selamatkan mereka dunia akhirat
Pertemukanlah kami kembali kelak di surgaMu

Ya Allah, perkenankanlah doaku
Doa yang Engkau janjikan
Sampaikanlah usiaku menjadi 40 tahun
Agar dapat kumohonkan ampunanMu
Agar dapat kumintakan rahmatMu

Hari ini genap usiaku 40 tahun
Kuhampiri Engkau hai Zat Yang Maha Memberi
Karuniakanlah segala kebaikan yang pernah Kau limpahkan
Kepada orang-orang saleh yang menjadi kesayanganMu
Masukkanlah aku ke dalam golongan yang selalu dalam lindunganMu
Janganlah Kau sesatkan aku setelah Kau beri aku petunjuk

Ampuni aku ya Allah
Jadikanlah aku manusia yang memberikan manfaat bagi manusia lain
Tanpa menjadi jumawa
Jauhkan aku dari semua jenis kesombongan
Seperti kesombongan seorang Karun yang Kau benamkan dalam perut bumi
Atau kesombongan seorang Firaun yang kau tenggelamkan di dasar lautan
Jauhkan aku dari kesesatan
Baik yang nyata
Maupun kesesatan yang dibalut pujian

Nela Dusan
Rasuna, 23 Agustus 2008