EU ban Indonesian airlines

The bad news came from Brussels on 28 June 2007 when the European Commission (EC) experts meeting on air safety deemed Indonesian airlines to be unsafe. The experts’ decision comes after recent crashes in the Asian archipelago and the failure of Indonesia authorities to provide adequate safety assurances. The message is clear that no Indonesian airlines including national carrier Garuda will be allowed for flying within the European Union skies. Furthermore the EC will issue the next Commission regulation on the European aviation safety.

Since at the moment no Indonesian airlines fly to EU, the decision to ban Indonesian airlines does not have a big impact. The ban could have a big impact on European passenger traveling with Indonesian airlines outside the EU. So the EU decision to ban Indonesian airlines could be considered as travel warning for European for not using Indonesian airlines. For me, it is normal that the European Commission is reminding their citizen to choose flight professionally and have safety assurances. Other ways, we should render our lives to uncertainty.

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Balawan's concert in Brussels

This is actually a very late report from the Balawan’s concert in Brussels on last 30 May 2007. Organized by the Indonesian Embassy and Belgian-Indonesian Foundation for Cultural Promotion (BIFC Promotion), Balawan or I Wayan Balawan held concert with title “Balawan Ethnic Jazz” in Thon Hotel, Brussels City. Supported by Agung Dody (bass), Made Wardhana (kendang/drum), Nyoman Suida and Wayan Swastika (gamelan), Balawan, who also act as vocalist, dazed the audience and hit hard with Bali nuance in every session.

It is unnecessary to wait until the last performance to see Balawan hypnotized the audience with his double neck guitar. In the opening session Balawan played Bird Song then followed by others song such as “The Dance of Janger”, “Tari Kecak” “A Wonderful World”, “Bubuy Bulan”, “My Way” as well as “Semua Bisa Bilang”, taken from his album “Magic Fingers”.

The audience was surprised on how he harmonized gamelan as piano substitution and applied it into jazz harmony smoothly. He could also manage the absence of modern drum with Bali traditional kendang which was played by Made Wardhana. So it is not affluent when Made Wardhana spanked his Bali traditional kendang, we could considered it same as the professional drum player.

In “Tari Kecak”, he adopted kecak’s dance instruments and combined with duel guitar versus kendang. In this session, Balawan conjured his guitar to generate kendang tone. He asked Made to play his kendang, and then he imitated it with his guitar. Whatever tone from Made’s kendang, Balawan could respond with the same tone very well. Of course, this performance received big applause from the audiences.


Furthermore, when he played “A Wonderful World” and sings a duet with Ambassador of Indonesia, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, he could present romantic – melancholies trumpet with his double neck guitar. Then when he accompanied Ambassador Datuk Kamal of Malaysia who sang “My Way”, he could resemble keyboard and piano clearly.

For the jazz fans in Indonesia, the name of Balawan has already well known. He is a musician who has ability to play a special and difficult form of tapping which involves chord and bass work with the left hand and tapped melody with the right hand, which resembles piano playing. He was born in Bali, Indonesia September 1973, grew up amongst Balinese gamelan music. At age of 8 he began to play guitar and start his first band in the age of 14. In 1993 he went to Sydney and got a scholarship to study jazz at the Australian Institute Of Music for two years. He went back to Bali in 1997 and forms Batuan Ethnic Fusion (A mix of Balinese Gamelan and Jazz) and released one album in 1999.

Related to concert in Brussels, this is the first concert for him. So no wonder if the audience majority were Indonesian who lives in Belgium. While the Belgian or foreign’s local residence who presents in those concert mostly come from people or travel agent who have ever visited Bali. For the next concert, I suggested to the Embassy and BIFC Promotion to arrange the possibilities for Balawan to participate in any other jazz activities in Belgium such as Brussels Summer Jazz Marathon, a yearly jazz concert held toward summer. So the name of Balawan could be more popular, not only in Indonesia but also in the world, particularly in Europe.

It is nice to hear that someday Indonesian jazz musician likes Balawan could go international and bring good image for Indonesia. I hope also that Indonesia will be more well-known, not only by Bali and its tourism, but also by his musicians.

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Why your post not on the Blog Indonesia’s list?

Few weeks ago I change my blog’s template and posted two articles: “European Union Export Helpdesk” and “Under Reconstruction”. In the beginning, I did not aware if those two articles did not appear on the Blog Indonesia’s list. I was just thinking that the Blog Indonesia’s server is overloaded or just delays the update. I realized that my post not on the list when I visited my personal list and did not found those two articles. Why those two articles did not come up? Is it related to my changes of language or are there any other reasons?

To know the answer, I click Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) provided by Blog Indonesia. On the FAQ number three (Can any blog be listed in Blog-Indonesia?), I found the answer that as long as the blog is written by, or if not, write about Indonesia, the blog could be listed in Blog Indonesia. So my question which related to language is not valid anymore.

Then I went to FAQ number six (My blog has been on queue for long time, and still not yet listed?). I found that the answer is reasonable. It is mentioned that when you change your blog template, you accidentally erase the link to your blog’s feed. It’s mentioned too that Blog Indonesia will be unable to contact the blog to read its content. Aha! I though this is the main reason why my two posts did not appear on the list.

So what you should do if it’s happen? According to the Blog Indonesia’s administrator, we should check the link to your feed and make sure it exists. According to them, it happens that even the blog has feed, the feed is not valid. Invalid feed cannot be read by Blog Indonesia and they will be unable to get any data from the blog. If they cannot read the blog's feed, blog cannot be included in the list. In this regard, in order to avoid uncertainty regarding the validity of the blog, the administrator also suggested checking it by using http://feedvalidator.org/.

Is it work? Well I have checked my blog and I found that my post concerning Gouda Pottery is already on the list. But for another trial and error process, we hope that we can find this article in their latest update.

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Gouda Pottery

This weekend I have been invited by my colleague to see a monthly antic goods market in Mechelen, 25 km from Brussels. Actually it is not really an antic exhibition; it is a well organized indoor flea market (Brocante in French). My colleague persuades me that in this market we can find some antic goods. We can bargain and if we are lucky enough, we can get it in low price.

One of my colleague’s favorite, among so many things sold by traders in that market, is Gouda pottery. It is a style of Dutch pottery named after the city of Gouda, a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Gouda pottery is diverse and visually distinctive in appearance, typically illustrated with colourful and highly decorated Art Nouveau or Art Deco designs. Gouda pottery gained worldwide prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century and remains highly desirable to collectors today.

At that time, there were many factories spread over the Netherlands producing the "Gouda style" of pottery. Factories such as PZH (Plateelbakkerij Zuid-Holland) Regina, Schoonhoven, Ivora, Goedewaagen and Zenith, were well known. They all had their own styles, patterns, decorators and designers. After the World War II, some factories stop their productions and some still continue with their new products. But according to the collectors, the new Gouda potteries are not so good; sadly quality and design began to suffer.

In this regard I could understand why the old Gouda pottery, in its original design, hunted by many collectors around the world for collection or resells. In Indonesia itself, collectors are looking Gouda pottery not only because it’s fabulous beauty but also by it’s high historical value. During the Dutch colonialism era, Dutch government officials and traders brought this pottery to Indonesia, as a gift or present to the local authorities.

After almost one hour hunting “antic goods”, finally I found a trader who sells Gouda Pottery. The trader, an old lady who can speak Germany, Netherlands, French and English, showed me a Gouda pottery plate decorated with flowers and leaves. This plate made in Gouda by Gobana Koninklyk Gouda Holland on model number 5110/35. There is a symbol in this plate to show the date mark (see photo below). The trader mentioned that it is a typical Gouda pottery made in 1940s.

Other Gouda pottery plate is a two handled hand painted Gouda dish by Bianca. The dish is in good condition with only tiny defect at the back side. The model number is 3231p with the same decoration and symbol as the Gouda pottery plate above (see two photos below).

Looking to this two plate, we can notice that they have same decoration, made by two different factories, but it made in the same periode, most probably in the 1940s as mentioned by the trader.

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Under Reconstruction

Sorry for your inconvenience. My blog is under reconstruction. After almost ten month with harbor template, for refreshment I decided to pick up polka dot as my new blog template. As a beginner blogger who do not really familiar with blog design, of course it is a kind of big job. It is not easy to put some html code in the right place, even just to copy and paste from old design. Sometimes some menus do not appear. So, to minimize some mistakes, I just pick a simple blog template in blogger.com, hoping that one day I can reconstruct these template step by step.

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European Union Export Helpdesk

Do you have intention to export your products to the European Unions (EU) but you don’t know the information related to import requirements, trade data, a market place as well as practical trade operations and trade promotion? Don’t worry. Just simply click EXPORT HELPDESK, an online service provided by the European Commission (EC), you can find all information you need to access market in the EU’s member countries. In this site the EC provides relevant information required by exporters from developing country which interested in supplying the EU market.

There are seven menus in this site, namely:

1. Requirements and taxes. Under this menu you can find information concerning EU and Member States’ import requirements and internal taxes.
2. Import tariffs, provides information to take full advantages of the EU’s preferential trade regimes.
3. Custom documents which related to documents to be produced in order to qualify for preferential duty treatment.
4. Rules of origin: This section provides information concerning preferential origin rules. It lays down the specific conditions that need to be met if goods are to qualify for advantageous tariff treatment; otherwise the full duties are applicable.
5. Trade statistic; contain trade data (exports and imports) for the EU and its individual Member States.
6. Market Place is a platform where exporters in developing countries can establish contacts with importers from the EU.
7. Links: this section provides information concerning EU and Member State authorities and international organisations involved in trade operations and trade promotion.

By providing all these menus as well as user guide, which can be downloaded in this site, the EC hopes that exporters from developing countries could develop their knowledge and have some background information on the procedures of exports to the EU’s market. But off course, it is not an easy matter for the beginners to fill all the complete form in this site. For example, the user should know firsts the codes of each product before fill up the form.

In order to enhance the capability of developing countries exporters, it is better if the EC could also conduct training for them and put this programmes under National Indicative Programme in the individual EU’s partner countries.

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Brussels Jazz Marathon 2007

On 25-27 May 2007, more than 400 musicians took part in the 12th edition of the Brussels Jazz marathon. They showed in open air stages on the Grand Place, Petit Sablon, Place St. Catherine, Place Fernand Cocq and Place d’Espagne as well as in numerous clubs and venues. For 3 days they showed a colorful and broad program, from jazz in its purest form, to latino, funk, rock and blues. All concerts were totally free.

This is the third time for me to attend and enjoy the annual jazz activities in the city of Europe. Not like the two previous editions, this time I could enjoy the performances, not only in clubs or venues, but of course in open air stages. I remembered that in the last two years, the weather was not so conducive. The rain kept on coming in spurts the whole day. This time, even the sun and clouds seemingly fighting over who should gain control over the skies above Brussels, in general it is very friendly.

Knowing that there are so many concerts, I decided to see the concert in Grand Place only. Grand Place is a historic square, lined with exuberantly ornate guild houses and focuses on the Gothic heights of the Hotel de Ville, is widely held to be one of Europe’s finest.

Concert at Grand Place

In this area, I have a chance to look at Daniel Romeo Band and Marc Lelangue on Saturday, 26 May 2007. While on Sunday evening there were trio Rassinfosse and quartet Manuel Hermia in the stages.

Daniel Romeo Band, a fusion band with jazz and funk element. (left to right) Oliver Bodson, Laurent Doumont, Bert Gielen, Nicolas Fiszman, Daniel Romeo, Rosario Guiliani, Michel Bisceglia.

Marc Lelangue and his band, Marc Lelangue "Tribute to Ray Charles". He is faithful to blues singing and has created a parallel repertoire, of songs that he wrote in French.

It's rain finally

an open concert at night

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Chelsea, MU dan PSSI

Jose Mourinho dengan Piala FA 2007 yang baru diraihnya

Lewat pertandingan yang menjemukan, Chelsea akhirnya berhasil menaklukkan MU berkat gol Didier Drogba di menit 116. Bagaimana tidak menjemukan kalau sejak menit pertama pertandingan berjalan datar dan kedua kesebalasan cenderung bermain aman dan menutup rapat pertahanan masing-masing. Saya awalnya berpikir bahwa pertandingan akan berakhir 0-0 dan juaranya ditentukan lewat adu penalti. Namun ternyata di menit-menit akhir, Drogba mampu membuktikan kebenaran nasihat di sepak bola yaitu jangan pernah berhenti berusaha mencetak gol sebelum pluit akhir berbunyi. Lewat umpan satu duanya dengan Frank Lampard, Drogba berhasil membuat Edwin van Der Saar tidak berdaya menepis bola ke arah gawangnya.

Untuk itu pelatih Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, sepertinya harus berterima kasih kepada Drogba. Karena dengan gol tersebut, reputasi Mourinho terselamatkan setelah sebelumnya gagal membuat hatrick sebagai juara Premiership tiga kali berturut-turut dan merebut Piala Champion Eropa. Dengan Piala FA yang baru diraihnya, beserta Piala Carling yang telah diraih sebelumnya, Mourinho dapat memperlihatkan kepada sang bos, Roman Abrahamovich, bahwa tidaklah sia-sia membelanjakan lebih dari 500 juta poundsterling untuk Chelsea.

Sementara bagi MU, kekalahan dari Chelsea melengkapi kegagalan di dua laga terakhir mereka yaitu ditaklukkan AC Milan di Piala Champion dan dipecundangi West Ham United di laga akhir Premiership. MU tampaknya harus cukup puasa dengan gelar Premiership 2006/2007 saja. Bagi klub sekelas MU, hal tersebut tentunya bukanlah suatu penutup yang manis. Tapi itu lah sepak bola, dan selama bola itu bundar, terkadang kita sulit memprediksikan hasil akhir suatu pertandingan. Kecuali mungkin menebak hasil pertandingan tim nasional PSSI yang biasanya jarang memenangkan pertandingan atau turnamen.

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Cara Mudah Ekspor Produk ke UE

Anda punya keinginan untuk mengekspor barang-barang yang anda produksi ke pasaran Uni Eropa (UE), namun tidak memiliki informasi yang terkait antara lain dengan data perdagangan, pasar, ataupun hal-hal praktis lainnya dalam perdagangan? Jangan khawatir, kesulitan anda setidaknya akan dapat teratasi dengan hanya mengklik situs EXPORT HELPDESK. Dalam situs yang disiapkan oleh Direktorat jenderal Perdagangan Komisi Eropa (KE) ini anda dapat menemukan informasi yang dibutuhkan untuk memasuki pasar di negara anggota UE.

Dalam situsnya ini, KE menyiapkan informasi yang terkait antara lain dengan persyaratan dan perpajakan, tarif impor, dokumen kepabeanan, ketentuan asal barang (rules of origin), statistik perdagangan, pasar di negara UE dan link yang terkait dengan perdagangan.

Secara umum situs ini sangat membantu para eksportir dari negara berkembang untuk memasukkan produknya ke pasar UE. Namun meski tampaknya telah dibuat mudah, termasuk dengan penyediaan user guide, tapi bagi eksportir pemula tentu saja akan tetap merasa kesulitan. Sebagai contoh adalah perlunya memasukan kode produk sesuai ketentuan harmonized system dalam pengisian formulir di situs ini. Belum lagi akses yang lambat karena banyaknya data yang diupload.

Untuk itu, dalam upaya meningkatkan kapasitas para eksportir negara berkembang, alangkah baiknya jika KE juga mengadakan pelatihan bagi para eksportir. Hal tersebut dapat dilakukan melalui kerjasama antar negara dan memasukkan dalam program bantuan UE seperti yang tercakup dalam National Indicative Programme yang disusun KE. Dan untuk mengupayakan program pelatihan tersebut, peran pemerintah di setiap negara berkembang, termasuk KADIN, tentunya sangat diharapkan guna menyakinkan KE untuk dapat merencanakan dan menganggarkan kegiatannya.

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Hari Eropa

Tanggal 9 Mei merupakan perayaan hari Eropa untuk memperingati pembentukan Masyarakat Eropa di tahun 1957 oleh 6 negara pendirinya yaitu Belgia, Perancis, Jerman, Italia, Luxemburg dan Belanda. Melalui Perjanjian Roma tanggal 27 Maret 1957, keenam negara tersebut sepakat membentuk organisasi Masyarakat Eropa yang kemudian menjadi cikal bakal terbentuknya Uni Eropa (UE) seperti yang dikenal selama ini.

Lalu kenapa tanggal 9 Mei yang ditetapkan sebagai hari Eropa dan bukannya 27 Maret?

Merunut sejarahnya, penetapan tanggal 9 Mei sebagai hari Eropa tidak terlepas dari upaya untuk memperingati usulan Robert Schuman, Menteri Luar Negeri Perancis saat itu, pada tanggal 9 Mei 1950 untuk membentuk organisasi Eropa yang diperlukan untuk menjaga perdamaian dan mencegah berulangnya Perang Dunia II. Usulan Robert Schuman ini, yang kemudian dikenal sebagai Deklarasi Schuman, diitndaklanjuti oleh 6 negara dengan membentuk ME, yang dipandang sebagai suatu bentuk awal Federasi Eropa.

Kini setelah 50 tahun terbentuknya ME, hari Eropa tanggal 9 Mei telah menjadi salah satu simbol identitas Eropa selain bendera, lagu kebangsaan, motto dan mata uang tunggal Euro. Dan setelah 50 tahun pula, UE kini tidak lagi beranggotakan 6 negara, melainkan telah berkembang menjadi 27 negara dengan penduduk sekitar 500 juta. Keberhasilan ini memperlihatkan pencapaian UE dalam meningkatkan kerjasama ekonomi kedalam suatu blok kerjasama yang sangat luas, mulai dari lingkungan dan imigrasi, hingga pertahanan dan kebijakan luar negeri.

Keberhasilan lain dari proses integrasi Eropa yang kiranya patut dicatat adalah bahwa proses tersebut ternyata juga melibatkan negara-negara di Eropa Timur dan Balkan yang pada saat Perang Dingin merupakan bagian dari blok komunis yang dipimpin Uni Soviet. Sehingga pada saat itu rasanya sulit membayangkan bahwa negara-negara Eropa Timur dan Balkan tersebut akan berada dalam satu kendaraan bersama yang sekarang disebut UE.

Meskipun mencapai suatu keberhasilan, bukan berarti tidak ada hambatan dalam menuju suatu UE yang kuat dan terintegrasi. Tantangan-tantangan yang dihadapi UE dewasa ini antara lain adalah perlunya menyelaraskan pertumbuhan ekonomi negara-negara anggotanya, khususnya 12 negara anggota baru yang bergabung sejak 1 Mei 2004 dan 1 Januari 2007. Perlunya menyelaraskan jumlah penduduk usia produktif dengan lapangan kerja yang tersedia. Perlunya meningkatkan daya saing global, baik dengan AS ataupun dengan kekuatan di berbagai belahan dunia lain seperti China, Jepang, Korea dan India. Dan juga perlunya melakukan penetrasi pasar guna memperluas akses pasar bagi produk-produk perdagangannya di seluruh dunia.

Dalam konteks kerjasama politik dan keamanan internasional, UE juga ingin terlibat lebih aktif dan menonjolkan profilnya di fora internasional. Tidak mengherankan jika UE kemudian berupaya turut serta secara aktif dalam penyelesaian konflik di Timur Tengah, Iran, Darfur, termasuk konflik di Aceh. Dengan modalitas yang dimilikinya, UE merasa mampu turut berperan dalam menjaga dan memelihara politik dan keamanan global.

Dengan tantangan-tantangan seperti tersebut di atas, geliat UE dapat dipandang sebagai geliat raksasa yang hendak bangkit untuk mengembalikan kejayaan di masa silam. Suatu geliat yang tidak saja disambut gembira, tetapi juga patut dicermati dengan seksama mengingat akan dampaknya bagi perkembangan kawasan dunia lainnya. Pengaruhnya tidak hanya terbatas pada sektor seperti ekonomi dan perdagangan, namun berimbas pula pada masalah politik dan keamanan atau sebaliknya, terutama bagi negara-negara berkembang.

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Mengenang Guru

Tanggal 2 Mei kemarin kita semua memperingati hari pendidikan nasional (hardiknas). Seperti umumnya memperingati hardiknas, kita akan selalu diingatkan akan jasa-jasa para guru dalam mendidik putra-putri bangsa. Secara pribadi, terkadang kita juga akan selalu diingatkan akan kenangan terhadap guru-guru yang pernah mendidik kita di sekolah. Mungkin kita akan diingatkan akan guru yang baik, sabar dan telaten dalam membimbing dan mengajari kita. Terkadang kita juga diingatkan akan guru yang lucu, galak dan sering marah-marah. Tidak jarang pula kita teringat akan guru yang rajin memberikan pekerjaan rumah atau suka menghukum murid di depan kelas. Mengingat itu semua sekarang mungkin kita semua bisa tersenyum-senyum sendiri, sambil mengingat-ingat betapa bodohnya dan mungkin juga betapa bandelnya kita.

Saya ingat Pak Makful, guru saya waktu di SD, beliau sangat sabar dalam mendidik dan mengajarkan murid-muridnya. Padahal banyak muridnya yang dikenal bandel (termasuk saya hehehe). Satu pengalaman yang masih berkesan adalah ketika pelajaran sejarah, beliau menjelaskan mengenai Timtim. Kebetulan saat itu Timtim baru saja diintegrasikan kedalam NKRI menjadi provinsi RI ke-26. Dan kebetulan pula dikelas saya ada murid baru yang berasal dari provinsi tersebut, namanya Raid. Beliau menanyakan ke murid-muridnya apakah ada yang tahu kepanjangan Timtim?. Mendapat pertanyaan tersebut, saat itu tidak ada satupun murid yang ditunjuk yang bisa menjawabnya. Pas giliran saya, dengan yakin saya jawab bahwa Timtim itu merupakan kependekan dari taman ismail marzuki taman ismail marzuki (maklum saat itu saya hanya tahu kependekan dari TIM yaitu Taman Ismail Marzuki yang di Cikini). Beliau tidak marah mendengar jawaban saya dan hanya tersenyum-senyum. Selanjutnya sambil memperkenalkan Raid, beliau menerangkan mengenai provinsi Timtim.

Lain lagi dengan Pak Soeprayogi, guru olah raga saat SMP. Saya sangat ingat sekali dengan beliau, karena berkat ”hadiah” dari beliau, saya sulit duduk dengan nyaman selama seminggu. Ceritanya gara-gara bermain sepak bola saat hujan di halaman sekolah, hampir sebagian besar murid pria di kelas kami harus merasakan hukuman dari beliau. Hukumannya tidak tanggung-tanggung, bukan cuma sekdar distrap di depan kelas, tetapi juga disabet dengan rotan (maaf) di pantat. Akibatnya tentu saja saya dan rekan-rekan yang terkena sabetan rotan susah harus menahan sakit saat pelajaran sekolah selama seminggu.

Di SMA, ada banyak nama guru yang masih saya ingat, misalnya saja ibu Asmidar (yang berkonde dan berkebaya, mengajar bahasa Indonesia), Pak Thamrin yang mengajar Matematika, Pak Santo (kimia), Bu Asmarni (biologi) dan tentu saja Pak Djoko Soedibyo (beliau ini walau enggak pernah ngajar di kelas, tapi namanya ada terus di ijazah SMA karena beliau kepala sekolahnya hehehehe). Mereka merupakan beberapa guru yang sangat baik dan berdedikasi tinggi. Ada juga pak Filemon yang ngajar fisika waktu kelas 1 sebelum penjurusan dan rajin ngasih les private. Ada juga bu guru matematika yang kurus langsing (kalau gak salah namanya bu Maria Ulfah).

Wah banyak sekali kalau mau mengabsen satu persatu dan jujur saja banyak nama-nama yang sudah saya lupa. Tapi walau lupa dengan nama-nama mereka, saya tetap sangat menghormati mereka sebagai pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa yang berperan penting dalam turut memajukan bangsa ini. Untuk itu, mumpung hardiknas belum terlewat jauh, saya turut mengucapkan selamat hardiknas, semoga dunia pendidikan Indonesia semakin bertambah maju. Kepada bapak dan ibu guru selamat bertugas dan sukses selalu. Salam hardiknas !!!

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