After a news about the increasing of cigarette's price spread, many pros, and contrast opinion responds to this news.  People said it is important to rise cigarettes price because it will prevent children under the age to smoke. Some others against it by using tobacco farmers and the cigarettes worker as their own shield. So how far I agree with this idea?

Actually, if you search for the news closely Indonesia Cigarettes Factory Association (GAPPRI) said that this news is just a hoax. The leader said there are some steps that should be taken if the government want to increase the price. Tobacco Comunity Movement also said by increasing the price, the farmer's life will be more devastated. Even, Ministre of Finance Sri Mulyani Indarwati said that she hasn't decided to increase the price for cigarette taxes and retail prices. She also said although she knows about the research but she said the price will be based on Revised State Budget 2017 (RAPBN 2017).

This news starts when a research from Hasbullah, a lecture from Universty of Indonesia, was released. In this research, he concludes to avoid children and poor people from using cigarettes the price should be increased to Rp 50 thousands. It means the price climb twice through third times higher than current average prices. This research was held in December 2015 - January 2016 with approximately 1000 respondents. 82 percents said they agree with the price and the rest disagree. 

Increasing cigarettes prices to live healthier is not a new option in around the world. In 2014, South Korea also do the same in order to reduce smokers in its country. South Korea Government was planning to increase the price to 4500 won ( Rp 47 thousands) from 2500 won. There is also much information fromI http://cigarettesprices.strikingly.com/ website about cigarettes prices. It said that since 1965 cigarettes price has been increasing continuously. In the UK, for example, the cost of cigarettes was 8,1 euro (Rp 120 thousands), and it was 9.7 dollars (Rp 128 thousand) in Singapore. And it made Singapura as the highest among all of Asian Countries. On the same website as above, it said that cigarettes consumption per capita in Indonesia was 1085, and Indonesia was placed in the 43rd place of 185 countries. 

http://cigarettesprices.strikingly.com/

We should consider increasing the price of cigarettes in order to reduce consumption of cigarettes in Indonesia. First, I need to assert that I don't think people will stop smoking just because the price has gone higher, but at least we can prevent the cigarettes from misuse. From the graph that was published by Tempo, we could see many data related to smoking habits. It said that smokers from 16-19 years old continue to grow, it was only 7.1 percent in 1995 but it increases third times higher, about 20.5 percent in 2013. Why increasing the price is so much important, it is because beginner smokers number (age 10-14 years old) was continued to grow twice higher in 2013 (18 percent) from 1995 (8.9 percent). And also, we could also see in 2011 that many poor people preferred to choose smoke (19.66 percent) rather than paying for their house accommodation (18.12 percent), gasses and electricity (18.46 percent).  Data from WHO in 2013 also said that for about 500 thousands people died every day because of smoke. 

But, I totally agree that increasing price of cigarettes still need more study, because there are a lot of farmers out there that will be much more devastated if the policy is applied. Not only that, some cities, like Kediri also depending on cigarettes factory taxes as their income. However, rather than stick out with current prices, the government should think seriously how to solve this problem. I don't think it is wise enough increasing the price while buying price in farmer level still low. By establishing the lower price of tobacco, the government could maintain farmer's welfare. And for cities that still depending on cigarettes factory sponsorship, they should find another option source of sponsorship like Jakarta did. After all, if the government increase the taxes approximately there will be another Rp 378.75 billions that will be added to the government budget. The government can use this money for other uses, like subsidies to farmers, food quality improvement, and also for health improvement. And we can ensure that tobacco farmers and workers life could be better.

In conclusion, I do agree about increasing the price of cigarettes in order to improve younger generation health. However, before we do that, the government should take some action and regulation to make sure that farmers and tobacco's factories worker won't be encountered another hardship. And also, The government also should coordinate with cities who still depend on tobacco factories sponsorship to find another income resources.

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5:49 PM

Yesterday a new project to increase people awareness of water was launched. It is called water sensitive cities. It will be developed in Bogor. It is a project that held by Water Cluster AIC. This team consists of Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia University, and Monash University for project in Bogor. It also will be built in Surabaya by coordinating with Surabaya Institute of Technology.

Co-Leader Water Cluster AIC Hadi Susilo Arifin said that the first project will be held in Pulo Geulis, Central Bogor. Pulo Geulis is a place near Bogor Botanical Garden. It is really an unique place because that place was formed by delta. Based on their observe, that place is a slum area. People in there really depend on the river. Many activities are done in the river. However, they don't have any waste management. Some of their waste is thrown into the river and pollute it. 

Hadi said his team will make a research about people at this place first before deciding what to do for the next step. But he is planning to make some reservoir to recycle the waste so it can be used for watering plants. To increase the effectiveness of this program implementation, this team also asked other organization, businessman, and also the government.

City Governor of Bogor Bima really pleased with this project. He admits making a change in water management is not an easy task. The government needs a lot of help from the academician. He said that many citizens still have economy driven motive to accept a regulation rather than public interest. He hoped that by coordinating with others stakeholders government can influence people to aware of their environment especially water. "It's time for Bogor to come back to it's khitoh (pathway) as a green and smart city," he said.

By knowing this Hadi also said that he and his team will make a plan to develop economic sectors in the site project. "We can plan many plants that can be used by them," told Hadi.

Water sensitive cities was a project that had been done in Australia. Knowing the scarcity of water researcher in some college like Monash University start to wonder how to make cities more liveable. They start it by building a green park. This park not only functioning as rain recharge but also to reduce pollution of the river. "Everyone love park because it's beautiful, and not only that, it also multifunction," said Co-Leader Ana Deletic from Monash University.

She also said that by doing this we can conserve water resources cheaper than using the old fashion ways. By doing this, she said that people will participate to protect water.

Well, it is quite an interesting project to do. I hope this project last, and will give the best result. I think it is the first project to reconstruct system so can facilitate green living. After all, I've never seen water waste management implemented in a city. 

I'm looking forward to the progress~ 

source: google image

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5:52 PM

Maybe some of you have already heard that DKI Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama has chosen to go with party for the next period election. Before, Ahok -his nickname- was planning to go as independent candidate, not using parties. One million KTP or Identity card also already achieved. But, suddenly Ahok turn down the table, and said that he will go with parties. He will go as candidate from Hanura and Nasdem for now. Well, what a surprised beside reshuffle news in this week(or not *grin).

Of course we still can't forget about what he said about parties, about his disappointed feeling towards parties. He said that going with party will consume a lot of money or there is 'mahar' (read here). Well I still remember in one of event that Megawati and Ahok attended, Megawati refused Ahok donation for her book. She said, "Ntar dibully lagi, dibilang mahar," (read here).  She said that regarding to Ahok opinion about 'mahar politik' in election.

That's why Ahok, in that time decided going as independent candidate. To go as independent candidate Ahok should collect 1 million identity card. He get some help from Teman Ahok. A gorup of young people that feel insecure about parties that's why they decided to help Ahok to go as independent candidate (read their tweet here). But after months later, Hanura and Nasdem decided to help them, and they welcoming them. This we known as 'politik tanpa mahar'.

Although finally they achieved 1 million identity card with lot of struggles, -you know some news regarding how they get their budget and so on-, but many people didn't bother. They still give their identity card to support Ahok. Last month they calculate their identity card that has been collected by them, and yeah they reached their target. Many young people or many people believe that going as independent is a good trend in our country now days.

After all these struggle suddenly Ahok claimed he will go as parties candidate. And moreover, Teman Ahok as voluntary organization -the organization that was amazed us with their braveness- also said will go with them. Well, no wonder, this can be a reason why some people feel disappointed when know Ahok goes with parties (read here).

#balikinKTPGue becoming trending in twitter in July 28th

Many people keep asking the consistency of Ahok and Teman Ahok. And asking what will they do with their identity card, their database. It's so common, because it has their private data, so the data security must be saved.

And secondly, of course we will ask, how about Heru? One civil employee that will go as his partner in the next election. How about Heru fate? Heru is non party public employee. Heru was chosen because PDIP didn't agree if Djarot -the vice governor now- go as independent with Ahok, so Ahok choose Heru. Ahok said that he want to prove that there is a lot off honest public employee (read here).

Many news said that Ahok will go with Djarot . But if he want to go with Djarot of course he must be friend again with PDIP. And Golkar, one of parties that support Ahok also said that Ahok should be partnering with Djarot. (read here)

Despite all of these controversy there still many of people support Ahok, no matter what choice he made.

And in my opinion, as long as no other candidate like Ahok, people will still choose him. It will be a different matter if other 'well known' candidate such as Ridwan Kamil or other compete with him.

How about you? Are you feeling disappointed or this doesn't matter to you?


*)sorry if there are a lot of incorrect grammar.
*)I choose article from different mass media to balance the explanation

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5:26 PM

Siang, setelah sekian lama gak ngisi blog rasanya agak kaku juga ya. Peregangan dulu mungkin hahaha. Berhubung sedang disuruh istirahat jadi mari dinikmati saja lah walaupun sudah mulai bosan hahhaa.

Sebenarnya banyak berita yang akhir-akhir ini beredar di masyarakat, yang paling bikin gw tertarik iu erdogan, cengkareng, pekerja Tiongkok, daaaaan pokemon go wkwkwkwk. Harus tetap up date walaupun terkapar di rumah hahahhaa.

Secara pribadi gw sebenernya gak begitu mengikuti kisah Erdogan. Yah gw gak banyak ngikutin isu politik luar negeri. Hanya melihat banyaknya pemberitaan mengenai nama satu ini lama kelamaan saya tentunya penasaran juga. Puncaknya saat kudeta militer di Turki baru-baru ini. Walaupun banyak dari orang kita yang belum ke Turki ataupun tidak tahu banyak mengenai seluk beluk pemerntahan Turki, hal ini sebenernya tidak menyurutkan semangat warga kita untuk mengelu-elukan penguasa Turki tersebut. Saya pun sempat kagum sampai akhirnya saya menpertanyakan hukuman mati yang dilakukan olehnya kepada para militer yang melakukan kudeta. Gw kira dalam Islam pun saat perang nabi tidak membunuh tawanan perang, saya rasa itu bukan yang dicontohkan dalam agama. Tapi ya itu pendapat saya loh ya.

Lalu walaupun Turki ada nun jauh di sana entah kenapa pemberitaan mengenai dirinya selalu ramai dan menarik minat warga di sini. Bahkan ada dari yang pro Erdogan samnpai yang gak pro Erdogan pun ada (saya gak nulis anti yaa, soalnya itu maknanya beda). Sampai dianggap tidak pro Islam karena gak pro Erdogan pun ada. Gw bahkan gak tau siapa itu Gullen. Apa boleh buat gw ga pernah ke Turki apalagi kenalan sama beliau. Gw juga gak tau kenalan di Indonesia yang orang hizmet. Jadi gw ga bisa komentar soal beliau, begitu pun Erdogan.

Aniwei, yang menarik di sini adalah bagaimana netizen menyikapi konflik ini. Meski ini konflik di negara tetangga, tapi di banyak kasus apalagi soal politik, netizen seolah olah menempatkan diri sebagai pro ataupun anti. Begitu pun dengan media. Gak ada yang netral. Atau setidaknya ketika berusaha netral pun malah disalahpahami. Blok-blok seperti ini selalu ada.

Di Indonesia contohnya, dalam kasus baru-baru ini, yakni kasus yang menimpa Gubernur DKI Jakarta Basuki Tjahja Purnama. Di kasus ini, blok tersebut terlihat kental, yang pro Ahok bela sampe mati, yang gak suka ahok masuk ke grup anti dengan membawa isu SARA kebanyakan. Sementara yang berusaha netral, yakni yang meyakini bahwa kinerja Ahok baik tapi tetap mengkritisi Ahok justru kerap kali dianggap plin plan. Bahkan ketika mengkritisi malah dihujat sedemikian rupa padahal maksudnya, beliau dikiritisi agar beliau dapat memperbaikinya. Wajar kan manusia tempatnya salah, mana ada yang sempurna.

Nah sama seperti kasus Erdogan saat ini. Ada saja pihak yang menggunakannya untuk saling menyalahkan. Mengungkapkan pendapat boleh asal jangan mencela hehe.

Kadang sampai suatu titik, gw mikir kenapa netizen sampai sebegitunya ya? Kalau dilihat dari sejarahnya sih presiden pertama kita Soekarno memperaktikkan gerakan non blok. Tapi kita kaya hardcore fans. Pilihannya mau dukung atau gak. Kalau mau dukung jangan protes liat baiknya aja deh, gitu. Ini persepsi gw atau emang begitu ya. Kalau memang ini salah media, apa benar media gak ada yang berusaha netral. Apa jangan jangan tidak ada pengawasan terhadap media. tapi kalau media diawasi pastinya akan rusuh dianggap melanggar ham. Akhirnya balik lagi ke netizen deh dalam menanggapi suatui berita. Sedikit lebih bijak dan perbanyak riset sebelum menelan berita bulat-bulat. seberapapun terpercayanya suatu media misinterpretasi bisa saja terjadi pada siapa saja dan dimana saja.

Aniwei semoga kita semakin bijak dalam mencerna berita. Dan tentunya tidak mudah terprovokasi. Cheers

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4:38 PM

Entah kenapa rasanya tergerak untuk menulis postingan soal Pak Husni Kamil Malik. Beliau adalah ketua Komisi Pemilihan Umum Pusat. Sebagai wartawan saya hanya beberapa kali bertemu Pak Husni. Padahal saya sendiri sebetulnya kebagian menjaga KPU dan DPR. Sayang saya lebih sering berada di DPR.

Sekali waktu saya bertemu pak Husni saat sosialisasi peraturan KPU soal calon independen. Masih inget saat itu semua orang sudah selesai mewawancaranya. Ia pun bergegas turun melalui lift. Tapi berhubung saya mewawancarai yang lain dahulu saya pun terlambat mewawancarainya. Tapi dengan ramah ia mengizinkan saya naik lift dengannya hingga turun ke mobilnya. Ia meladeni pertanyaan coro yang masih dangkal pemahaman isu soal pemilu. Yah walaupun jawaban beliau normatif sih heheheh.

Kali berikutnya saya tengah duduk di KPU. Entah apa yang saya lakukan saya hanya duduk di sana dengan yang lain. Katanya sedang ada rapat ketua dengan para komisioner. Tetiba ada bapak bersenyum ramah, pake kaos oblong dan sandal jepit kayanya swalow hahahaha. Lalu dia naik mobil yang jelas bukan mobil dinas KPU tapi saya lupa mobil apa. Ia pun berlalu sambil tersenyum setelah menyapa kami "saya duluan ya," katanya. Meski saya tahu ia tak mengenal kami.

Lalu pagi tadi saya terbangun, mendapati grup whatsapp penuh dengan kabar meninggalnya beliau. Tanpa tanda. Semua pun kaget, bahkan saya. Kabar ia masuk ke rumah sakit baru saat idul fitri itu pun kelihatannya baik saja. Siapa sangka umur seseorang memang tak bisa diterka.

Terlepas dari seperti apa karir politiknya. Tapi saya turut berbela sungkawa atas meninggalnya beliau. Selamat jalan pak, semoga amalanmu diterima di sisi-Nya.

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2:39 PM

Well, after some annoucement about the new chapter of CCS, I've been feel very excited. The last chapter CCS was released when I was in elementary school. The last chapter show a spring when sakura tree bloomed. Then Sakura who already in middle school met Syaoran. Well the two split when the story over. Because of work, Syaoran must come back to Hongkong. After years he finally back to Japan, and meet Sakura.

The first chapter still write about the two. How they meet and their reaction. As the first chapter, it still contain many mystery. Actually I felt really curious about Syaoran expression and Clow or Eriol warning about dream. Almost all of CCS story start with Sakura dreams.

After dream, Sakura open her clow card book -okay that's sakura card now-. She look really shocked. Ah I don't want to asume anything, but I think I got a hunch about what happened.

This manga really bring back memories of my childhood. I still remember waiting for this cartoon everyday (I think) in on of local tv channel. I even still collect the songs. Hahahaa.

The setting take place when Sakura still in the elementary school. Well, I was in elementary school to back then. But, how come after many years, even I already go to work after finishing my undergraduate, Sakura just or still in Middle school. Hahahhaha, the years in that manga seems stoped.

Anyway, I still happy and waiting for the next chapter of this manga. Still, after Digimon Adventure, this one really worth to wait. Can wait to see Sakura and Syaoran Journey >__<.

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9:46 PM