Category Archives: History

The Crusades Series

An Introduction

In these days and age where religious tensions are still far from over, it has become much more important for us to understand the underlying drivers of conflicts in the name of religions. Especially because when such clash happens today it will no longer be in forms of siege or epic battles between knights and spearmen but as we have seen too often it tend to take forms of bombings in civilian districts - and a nightmare scenario of nuclear or biological catastrophe.
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Soekarno's Opening Address at Asian-African Conference (Bandung, April 1956)

Let a New Asia and New Africa Be Born

Yes, we are living in a world of fear. The life of man today is corroded and made bitter by fear. Fear of the future, fear of the hydrogen bomb, fear of ideologies. Perhaps this fear is a greater danger than the danger itself, because it is fear which drives men to act foolishly, to act thoughtlessly, to act dangerously.
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TIME Magazine Cover Story (23 December 1946)

Ir. Soekarno

Most of the Indies Dutch now realize that the old days will never come again. The Dutch at home are beginning to understand that Ir. Soekarno & Co. are attempting to engineer a complete break, economic as well as political. As a result Holland's earlier, more tolerant attitude toward Indonesian home rule is stiffening. But at best the Dutch faced a pretty grim prospect. Sardonic Hubertus van Mook put it this way: "There will be shooting for a long time in Indonesia, but we hope to get it on a friendlier basis."
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Oleh: Tjahjo Sasongko

Waktu yang Kita Miliki

Semua menunjukkan waktu. Kelahiran dan kematian seperti suatu pertanda dari perjalanan masa. Seperti yang tertulis dalam salah satu prasasti yang ditulis dalam bahasa belanda kuno,"Soo Gy. Nu Syt. Ik Voor Deessen Dat. JK, Nv Ben Svlt Gy Ook Weesen." Yang artinya,"Seperti anda sekarang, demikianlah aku sebelumnya. Seperti aku sekarang, demikianlah juga anda kelak".
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Virginia Plan vs New Jersey Plan

Notes from Philadelphia Convention 1787

The following fictional newspaper articles depicts the fundamental differences between Virginia and New Jersey Plan that became the main issues during Philadelphia Convention in 1787. This convention may well be one of the early pillars of modern democracy.
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A Semi-Fictional Script

Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Old Ironsides

In 1830, young Oliver Holmes wrote a contradictive poem entitled 'The Old Ironsides'. The poem was about a United States Navy battleship USS Constitution that was about to be dismantled. This fictional script adopts the setting similar to that of a television talkshow. Although the characters represented in the script are not completely accurate and some even blundered for comedy effects, the facts about Mr Holmes and USS Constitution are real.
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  • Featured Editorial

    The Strategic Case of Climate Change for Indonesia

    It is critical to frame the issue of climate change as a problem to the population. It should not be seen only as a problem to the environment, since it also poses grave challenges to social and economic development. Planet Earth has been in existence for more than four billion years and has gone through solar storms, meteor impacts and several ice ages. Several dozens of high-grade hurricanes and meters of rising sea level will not jeopardize the planet as much as it will demolish the people living on it.The window of opportunity for Indonesia to embed climate change considerations into its development plan and muster international support to undertake a low carbon development is still open – but not for long.

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    Who Knew?

    For all its pivotal utilities, the calendar system also sets benchmarks in our lives so that we can see our life journey in sections like days, months, and years. It enables us to review our past and plan for the future. But most of the time we do not know the full extent of what we do today will bring us in the future. Just like we didn’t know that something small in the past actually brought something we value dearly.

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    Memilih Sekolah di Luar Negeri beserta Tanggung Jawabnya

    Setiap pelajar Indonesia yang sekolah di luar negeri memiliki beragam tanggung jawab. Tapi semua itu dimulai dengan tanggung jawab untuk memilih pendidikan yang sebaik-baiknya. Jangan sampai hanya semata karena dis-informasi atau mis-informasi, putra-putri bangsa ini mubazir merantau.

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    Impian Itu Adalah Setiap Anak Indonesia Kenal Komputer

    Di negara dengan ketimpangan sosial yang relatif tajam seperti Indonesia, kesenjangan teknologi pun lebih terasa. Sebagian mahasiswa metropolitan kerap memeriksa surat elektronik melalui kotak ajaib seukuran telapak tangan, sementara rekan-rekan mereka di pedalaman masih belajar dengan lampu minyak. Memang, keadaan seperti itu banyak bergantung pada faktor ekonomi, tapi hal ini dapat dilangkahi dengan penerapan teknologi mutakhir yang merakyat.

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  • Profile

    Michael wearing BatikBackground information of the person behind the writings on this website is available here. Curriculum vitae and the list of activities are separated in different sections although a small part intertwines. As additional material and to answer some queries, the explanation of the perplexed names is available as well. Continue reading...