RESENSI BUKU: BELAJAR DARI KELUARGA AMIEN RAIS

BANYAK buku yang ditulis orang tentang Amien Rais yang pernah menjadi news maker bahkan dijuluki the king maker. Buku mengenai sepak terjang dalam pentas politik nasional maupun menyangkut kehidupan pribadi dan keluarganya. Tetapi kehadiran buku yang ditulis oleh orang yang dekat, bergaul dengan sang tokoh sejak lahir dan merasakan suka duka bersamanya, akan terasa sangat istimewa. Seperti yang dituturkan putri kedua Amien Rais, Hanum Salsabiela Rais dalam buku ini.

Hanum melihat ayahnya sebagai sosok yang patut diteladani bagi dirinya dan orang lain. Amien Rais menjadi sumber inspirasi bagi Hanum, bukan hanya karena pencapaian akademis dan politiknya, tetapi orientasi hidup dan pola pikirnya yang mencerminkan penghayatan keagamaan secara mendalam. Keluarga menjadi titik awal dan akhir dalam melangkah. Meskipun kesibukan kerja mengharuskan Amien Rais kerap meninggalkan keluarga, tetapi peran keluarga sangat signifikan. Restu orangtua dan dukungan istri dan anak menjadi daya dorong terpenting. Dicontohkan Amien Rais menolak tawaran menjadi calon presiden pada tahun 1999 saat tokoh-tokoh nasional mendukung sebab ibunya tidak mengizinkan.

Meski tidak hidup bergelimang kemewahan, keluarga Amien Rais sangat concern terhadap pendidikan putra-putrinya. Salah satunya tradisi membaca yang sangat kuat berikut penekanan pada penguasaan bahasa asing di keluarganya. Perhatian juga diberikan pada pembentukan karakter, kemandirian dan konsistensi. Putra-putri dibiarkan hidup mandiri, diajarkan kesulitan hidup, mencoba hal-hal baru dan berbuat kesalahan, membuat keputusan dan bertanggung jawab pada pilihan yang diambil. (hal 53-58).

Bagian terbesar penuturan Hanum pada perjuangan Amien Rais seputar perjuangan menjelang reformasi 1998 kemudian saat menjabat Ketua MPR RI (1999-2004) dan dilanjutkan saat pencalonan presiden 2004. Semangat amar ma'ruf nahi munkar menjiwai keberanian Amien Rais menggulirkan isu suksesi kepemimpinan berhadapan rezim Soeharto, bahkan juga dalam mengkritisi isu-isu nasional yang sensitif, kebijakan pemerintah dan tatanan global dunia. Amien juga mengajarkan keteguhan dan optimisme dalam meraih cita-cita saat mengajukan diri (diajukan) sebagai calon presiden 2004. Saat kegagalan yang terjadi dia menerima dengan kebesaran hati, legawa dan tawakal. Amien-lah yang paling awal mengumumkan kekalahannya dan mengucapkan selamat pada pemenang pilpres.

Masih banyak sisi kehidupan dari sosok Amien Rais sebagai pribadi, kepala keluarga, maupun pemimpin masyarakat yang coba dikupas menurut persepsi sang putrinya. Sisi kemanusiaan Amien Rais dikupas sewajarnya dengan kelebihan dan kekurangannya, kebahagiaan dan kesedihannya, tanpa perlu memujanya sebagai idola. Bagi mereka yang tidak suka dengan Amien Rais dengan membaca buku ini akan tahu gambaran yang sebenarnya tanpa perlu pembelaan, bahkan mungkin berbalik mencintai tokoh ini.

Hanum Salsabiela Rais adalah lulusan kedokteran gigi yang tertarik dunia jurnalistik televisi. Saat buku ini diterbitkan dia masih di Vienna Austria mengikuti studi suaminya. Mungkin karena sudah terasah ketrampilannya dalam dunia yang digeluti, gaya bahasa Hanum enak diikuti, ringan tetapi berbobot dan tidak ada kata yang sia-sia. Sebuah seni yang dikuasai dan menjadi salah satu kelebihannya sebagaimana ayahnya juga mempunyai ketrampilan dalam menulis dan berbicara yang lugas dan bermutu. Begitu banyak pelajaran yang dapat kita peroleh dari buku ini, yang menjadikan kita lebih bijak. Sayang bila kehadiran buku ini dilewatkan begitu saja. q - g

(A Asranur Arifin, penikmat buku tinggal di Sleman)


Dimuat di Harian Kedaulatan Rakyat Minggu tanggal 30 Mei 2010
http://www.kr.co.id/web/de tail.php?sid=216836&actmen u=45

Talk Show, Apa Kabar Indonesia Minggu, TV ONE

Pada Minggu, 16 Mei 2010, kembali Hanum Salsabiela Rais mendapatkan undangan diskusi buku, kali ini dari program TV ONE Apa Kabar Indonesia Akhir Pekan, dalam segmen Resensi Buku. Acara resensi ini kembali menghadirkan Drajat Wibowo sebagai penanggap. Melalui line telepon, Amien Rais juga bertelewicara selama satu segmen. Selain mengupas tentang buku Menapak Jejak Amien Rais: Persembahan Seorang Putri untuk Ayah Tercinta, obrolan di pagi hari ini juga menjadi ajang reuni Hanum dengan para koleganya di stasiun TV dulu, diantaranya Tina Talisa dan Bagus Priambodo yang kini bekerja di TV ONE

SINOPSIS BUKU

Amien Rais, ayah saya, tak bisa dipungkiri adalah sosok yang sering mengundang pro dan kontra di masyarakat, baik karena kritikan maupun pernyataaanya. Tidak mudah memahami pemikiran seorang Amien Rais, yang terkadang jauh mendahului jaman. Sebagai contoh ketika bapak, melontarkan ide suksesi pada tahun 1993 yang membuat Orde Baru meradang.


Buku ini lahir bukan untuk memberikan pembelaan, meluruskan atau membenarkan bagaimana sepak terjang seorang Amien Rais di kancah politik. Buku ini ringan bercerita tentang kisah kisah inspiratif dibalik panggung politik Amien Rais.


Dari cerita yang berasal dari diskusi meja makan, di mushola setelah sholat bersama, didepan televisi, ataupun saat berada dalam mobil bersama dalam sebuah perjalanan, saya tahu Bapak masih punya banyak impian besar untuk bangsa ini yang belum tertuntaskan.

Bagi saya, hari hari bersama bapak adalah hari yang berharga. Seolah memperoleh untaian emas setiap waktu bersama bapak, rasanya tak adil jika saya menyimpannya untuk diri sendiri. Melalui buku inilah saya ingin berbagi cerita kepada para pembaca dibalik sosok Amien Rais yang vokal namun bersahaja.

Bukan untuk menunjukkan kualitasnya sebagai pemimpin, tapi untuk bercerita ketauladanan dari keseharian Amien Rais sebagai pemimpin keluarga yang sangat saya kagumi.

I Miss You, Daddy..

When i'm writing this little piece of my mind, I'm dropping tears away. This morning I browsed up some latest Indonesian news on an online site, and I happened to find a picture, a picture of a figure I miss so much. He seems somebody I fail to think of, forget about, during I reside here in Vienna. It's bapak, that's the way I call my beloved father. He looks very pale in that picture, but still the face has its strength to bring up his appearance, the never changed one I  believe. Bapak, if you happened to read this writing, I'd like you to know how much I miss you dearly, bapak. Time to time, a journey after another you passed by , you remain unchanged as you used to be. Despite the phony many time challenged you, you keep your name, amien rais, attached yourself as the name meant to be. Ich bin stolz auf dich, Vater. I'm proud of you, Bapak. Knowing that there are still a lot of people out there doubt your integrity and truthfulness to this nation, sometimes makes me greatly down. But as you once told me this saying; " every battle against the badness for the sake of the good, takes a never ending journey , even more so takes up the whole lifetime ". And this is what you are working on now, forward and always forward, go catching every drop of hope. A hope for the national sovereignty.

Dear all of you, at times little do we, his sons and daughters, think what he has done worthwhile for the country since numbers of negative response bounce back. Long long way has he gone through, but all in vain. Even so, I once grumbled about this awry decision he made, countless time, and asked him to give no more damn to this country. Yet he declined, he said what he's working on is not merely being on top, nor chasing a victory of all, nor even a leader of others, but a journey of endeavors. To me, this mindset seems still, a worthless one, as I'm but a young girl with lack knowledge beyond. However, I wish I could reach out the way he thinks, in fact, he's really a traveller, of a never ending story. Love you, Bapak. 

Death Sentence

The news of the imminent death penalty for the two Sumiarsih and Sugeng, mother and son have put me in a feeling like heading to the same thing. I sort of project my self to become like the two convicts who seemingly to meet their last terminal that draws nearer and nearer. Well, it sort of drives me these recent days. I'm so eager for their updated news time to time on an online web. How could human beings deal with their own death which they know it beforehand completely with the exact time, date and minute? My teacher teaching the religion subject in SMA once told me that naturally we experience the small death everyday during sleep. Only the hurt we don't suffer from the small death since the real death itself takes the most painful thing in one's life than any, even the most honorable and noble prophet Muhammad suffered from the death when the angle sorrowfully had to take the prophet's being. Death is not a matter of going away and disappear from the blatant world. Death naturally arrives at any time and any where, can't not be expected and predicted. That only God the Almighty owns the privilege. All we should do is none but solely doing good deeds and piety to others in our whole lifetime so that we are prepared as the eternity comes upon. More or less, this issue of death sentence has sparked me a new bearing. I have to be better and better ahead, in terms of everything but good. Truly saying, if I might bargain, I would like God not to take my life at this moment since I have got still fewer savings, and therefore in the rest of my life, I'd deposit more and more good endeavor to my life account. May God watch over me and keep shielding me from being a sinner. Amiiieeeen...

Learning German, der die das, Help Me Out!

Living abroad requires a consequence. Other than English, that I, well I could say master it, Austria obliges me to learn German. Don't ask, this language is totally heavy. As Indonesian who gets used to speak mother language without structure, grammar, and tenses, it's obviously difficult to learn others that use considerable language regulation. As for English, that might be already an up hilling language for Indonesians in fact that the language has been subjected to the education curriculum and world widely spread by media, what about German? I must say, this language (lang.) could take your head away, if we don't bear it down on learning it. My pursuit of this lang. was quite long way run. Three months prior to Vienna, I and mas Rangga drilled the essentials of the lang. By a native speaker, Rosy,  together we learned basic German. Rosy was a dedicated teacher, I think though she didn't have any teaching background. Yet, she knew exactly what beginners must focus early on learning German. She introduced us to the rule of three sexes in the German practice. The der , die, das articles. In German, every noun has sex. The articles describe the sex. Der is for male, die for female, and das for the neutral. And it takes maybe the whole lifetime to memorize each word together with the articles as they don't click the sense at all. Although the word sounds female, it doesn't mean we use the die article, but we use the das , instead. For example, we say das Madchen which means the girl instead of saying die Madchen which more applies the common sense. Or other nouns like chair (der Stuhl), bag (die Tasche), book (das Buch) etc, we never find out the root reason why such things are titled with various sexes:) That's only the beginning, the preface of the lang. what's more is just burning out the brain. Well, anyway, here in Vienna, in my first months living, I took a short German course at one of the most outstanding and reputable institution. Thanks God that I managed to skip 3 levels in a row. Well, if Rosy happened to read this blog, I would like to utter my gratitude to her, you were so helpful in the learning process. Now I get the certificate that announces me as a good German learner. The class was over three days before the European Cup. Now it's Summer time and they have a short break during this long long holiday. As for me, hmm... I get little bored that I lose friends and mates, however I sense there is an emerging feeling coming from my heart. I think it's a love to this language, German.  

Veggies VS Fatties VS Exercise

Yeap, that's the title. Frankly saying we, I and my husband, are consuming less vegetables lately. At any rate, ever since we lived here. And what's more, we rarely exercise even for only jogging or walking unless in a forced condition; in order to catch up trams or buses, we run very hard and when we manage to hop in, we run out of breath.  Oh it's disastrous, isn't it? This started when I found out that vegetable's price here is slightly as costly as meat's, chicken or beef. Ups, but not pork, of course, it is bloody cheap. For instance, one chicken is priced at 2,7 Euro, equal to a bundle of broccoli or a pack of carrots contains 10 sticks only, which more and less are priced at 2 up to 2,5 Euro. Thus, we prefer spending out our budget to purchase meat, particularly chicken rather than vegetables as any meat, everyone must agree upon this, vegetarians excluded; it is somewhat oily, tasty, and you know that fats always bring the flavor of dining. That the reason all about. There is something you need to know, here, in Vienna, meat (chicken, beef, pork, turkey), cheese, milk, eggs or those other fatty- creamy delicious articles, hmm yummy, are heavenly less expensive compared to fruit or vegetables. As an Indonesian who used to consume plenty of tropical fruits like bananas, rambutans, mangos, papayas, or pineapple almost routinely back home, it was at first a shock when I was aware of those fruit's price skyrocketing, here in Vienna. 5 pieces of mangos cost nearly 8 Euro, a partly sliced pineapple heats up to 3 Euro. And else. You give it converted to Rupiah with the valid rate, OK? Das ist Wahnsihn. It is insane price. It chills me to the bone. Needless to say, everything makes sense as those matters are all imported product. Austria definitely doesn't grow such tropical fruits, even are said they are not growing any certain fruit at all. They order them from Italy, Thailand or America. Hmm this should make me feel grateful that there in Indonesia, you could plant, grow, and harvest any vegetation, be it fruit, herbs, veggies, or others. But, still this makes me no idea why we, Indonesians still live in drawbacks, lack of anything, even lack of confidence.

Back to essence:) I become very picky person at this time that I always calculate and evaluate price list and outcomes:). As consequence, we consume the non-tropical fruit like oranges, grapes, pear which cost more reasonable and affordable and say good bye to mangos and friends. But anyway, here in this tiny city, I keep myself and my hubby enjoying Indonesian culinary like gulai or we call it goulash in German, sambel goreng ati, opor ayam, satai, and so forth, originally homemade by Hanum Salsabiela. We are sometimes fed up with western cuisine which is tasteless to our tongues. So, we're living abroad where the taste of our motherland remains exist. 

                                        

Talking about sport, in a way to balance our "happy" life, oh it's hard to say about. Well, we are so lazy couple nowadays. Looking back home, I used to jog almost every morning in that place, a parking lot close by the kindergarten my mommy runs. Or I did some moves at the fitness centre by evening. So did Mas Rangga, he ran once a week  in GSP, the UGM boulevard, and swam the other day. Gosh, at the moment we thoroughly do nothing for sport, unless for, as I mentioned above, chasing for streetcar which within seconds shut its door. As of yesterday, on weekend, on the day we don't know what to do to kill the time, we put much much effort to exercise. We dragged ourselves out our flat to the sport park in Prater, just 2 blocks nearby the Ernst Happel Stadium, where the European cup grand Final 2008 took place. Voillaaa! we made it. We managed to break the ice, this icy body, we suppose, after all these 6 months. We jogged along 2 till 4 kilo meters non stop or else. Upppsss.....but we forgot something, we never expected the side effect of an abruptly-intensively forced body movements. A negative impact, I must say. By the next morning -today-, right after we got up the bed, this pain on our backs sparked. It felt like the pain slashed joints and bones slice to slice. Oh no no, that's too scary, but it's true:). Anyways, this nuisance doesn't crack our willingness to start over another exercise next week. Hope it's not only a wish but a real commitment to be done. Let see...:)