Rabu, 23 Maret 2011

KOKOH, kukuh, keukeuh

Ibas Akui 'Kenal' Aliya Sudah Lama
Rabu, 23 Maret 2011 | 20:23 WIB

Edhie Baskoro. TEMPO/Mazmur A. Sembiring

TEMPO Interaktif, Jakarta- Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono alias Ibas akhirnya mengakui hubungannya dengan Siti Ruby Aliya Rajasa. Putra bungsu Presiden Yudhoyono menyatakan sudah lama mengenal Aliya. “Alhamdulillah, sudah sejak lama,” kata Ibas yang ditemui di Jakarta, Rabu 23 Maret 2011.



Saat ditanyakan seberapa lama, sambil tersenyum-senyum, Ibas menegaskan lagi. “Pokoknya sudah lama. Kami kan masih single semua. Kalau keduanya ya, Insya Allah lah,” ujarnya.

Kabar kedekatan Ibas dengan Aliya berembus sejak 2009. Hubungan keduanya menjadi perhatian menyusul kedekatan kedua orang tua mereka, Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yang juga Ketua Dewan Pembina Partai Demokrat dengan Hatta Rajasa, Ketua Umum Partai Amanat Nasional yang kini Menteri Koordinator Perekonomian. Hatta, pada Pemilu 2009 lalu, ditunjuk sebagai Ketua Tim Sukses pemenangan SBY.

Dalam waktu dekat, hubungan dua tokoh politik akan disatukan dalam bentuk kekerabatan, begitu Ibas dan Aliya, memutuskan menikah. Keduanya bahkan dikabarkan telah memilih momentum istimewa sebagai tanggal bersejarah dalam proses pernikahan.

Tanggal lamaran disebut ditetapkan pada 26 April 2011, bertepatan dengan ulang tahun ke-25 Aliya. Ada pun pernikahannya, berlangsung 24 November 2011, bersamaan hari ulang tahun Ibas ke 31.

Lahir 26 April 1986, Aliya dikenal aktif di kegiatan sosial. Salah satunya adalah Yayasan Satoe Indonesia, sebuah yayasan yang bergerak di bidang pemberdayaan masyarakat pedesaan. Yayasan ini didirikan anak-anak Sekolah Bisnis dan Manajemen ITB, kampus yang juga almamater Aliya. Aliya sendiri kuliah di situ tahun 2004 dan lulus tahun 2007.

Di yayasan itu, putri politisi gaek Partai Amanat Nasional ditunjuk sebagai goverment relations. Salah satunya menjalin hubungan dengan instansi-instansi pemerintahan. Tak heran, jika Satoe Indonesia dalam program pertamanya menggandeng Istana dalam program mobil pintar ke kawasan Ciwidey, Bandung.

Boleh jadi, kegiatan Aliya inilah yang membawanya akrab dengan Istana. Apalagi, ibunda Aliya, Oktiniwati Ulfa Dariah Rajasa, tergolong aktif dalam Solidaritas Istri Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu (SIKIB), wadah berkiprah istri para menteri kabinet Indonesia yang dipimpin Ibu Negara Kristiani Herawati Yudhoyono di berbagai kegiatan, terutama bidang sosial.

Juni 2008, karena aktif di kegiatan sosial, Aliya terpilih menjadi utusan Indonesia untuk konderensi masa depan Indonesia tanpa kekerasan radikalisasi di Manama, Bahrain. Di situ,ia diminta presentasi tentang bagaimana anak muda melakukan pemberdayaan warga di Indonesia. Di sela itu, Aliya bersama sejumlah kawan-kawannya mendirikan perusahaan baru yang bergerak di bidang energi terbarukan di kawasan Sumatera Selatan.

Sebelum akhirnya mengambil Master Jurusan Bisnis Internasional di Universitas Westminster, London, Inggris, Aliya bersama Anisa Pohan, istri Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, mendirikan Yayasan Tunggadewi. Agus adalah kakak Ibas.

Di Yayasan ini, Aliya menjabat sebagai Ketua Yayasan. Yayasan ini adalah pengelola Rumah Pintar atas kerjasama dengan SIKIB. Kegiatan inilah yang membuat Aliya, pada akhirnya tak hanya semakin dekat dengan Istana, tapi juga dengan Ibu Negara yang tak lain adalah ibunda Ibas.

Tak heran, saat meluncurkan Rumah Pintar Cikeas, 26 Maret tahun lalu, Ibunda Ibas sempat melontarkan pujiannya. Katanya, rumah pintar ini ini berdiri berkat mimpi 11 perempuan muda. Salah satunya, Aliya Rajasa, "Aliya Rajasa sendiri, seorang sarjana manajemen, sekarang sedang mengambil master di United Kingdom. Tapi datang ke Indonesia, dalam rangka meresmikan rumah pintar ini," kata Ani Yudhoyono di depan forum publik.

Saat itu, Ani Yudhoyono juga mengenalkan sejumlah tamu yang hadir. Termasuk dua politisi muda dari Partai Demokrat yang juga anggota DPR. Salah satunya adalah Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono atau Ibas.

EKO ARI WIBOWO | WDA

Minggu, 20 Maret 2011

the CORRUPTED DEVELOPED country

Tokyo Electric scrutinised over slow response
Ken Belson, Tokyo
March 21, 2011

ternyata Jepang, sebagai negara maju juga bisa korup
apalagi Indonesia, yang terkenal sebagai negara terkorup di dunia
bahaya pengelolaan nuklir BUKAN KARENA KECERDASAN ILMUWAN INDONESIA, TETAPI KEBIJAKAN dan PENGAMBILAN KEPUTUSAN YANG KORUP
adagium Lord Acton: power tends to corrupt
absolute power corrupts absolutely

NEW questions have arisen over whether Tokyo Electric Power Company executives wasted precious time early in the nuclear crisis, either because of complacency or because they did not want to use emergency measures that could destroy their valuable investment.

The question of timing is critical. Because the earthquake and the tsunami knocked out the Fukushima No. 1 plant's ability to pump fresh water into either the reactors or the spent fuel pools - potent sources of radioactive material as they heated up - plant operators eventually had to improvise. And mounting radiation levels hampered workers' ability to enter the plant, gauge the damage and contain the crisis.

Nuclear experts said that executives thought they had enough time because the reactors shut down automatically after the earthquake, and did not realise the risk from the highly radioactive spent fuel rods, which are still emitting heat.

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The question is whether they waited too long before pumping seawater into the plant, a measure that would ruin a valuable investment.

Kuni Yogo, a former atomic energy policy planner in Japan's Science and Technology Agency, said he believed the executives at Tokyo Electric Power, or TEPCO, did not recognise the risks soon enough. They failed to cool the reactors on the day of the earthquake, and even after a hydrogen explosion the following day they waited more than four hours to start dousing the reactors with seawater. They did not even try to put water into the spent fuel pools for several days.

''On Friday afternoon, they weren't in a panic,'' Mr Yogo said. ''Their main concern was the reactors, and they had shut down automatically. They could have prepared earlier to deal with the spent fuel.''

Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at a Pennsylvania power plant with General Electric reactors similar to the troubled ones in Japan, said the crucial question was whether Japanese officials followed GE's emergency operating procedures. Those procedures were ''crystal clear'' on how to determine when reactors should be flooded, he said, and plant operators should have practised many times how to flood them with seawater.

The procedures prescribe specific actions based on variables such as reactor temperature and pressure, data that TEPCO has not yet released.

A former TEPCO executive told The Wall Street Journal that the company had hesitated to ruin the plant with seawater. A TEPCO spokesman told the newspaper that the company, ''taking the safety of the whole plant into consideration, was trying to judge the appropriate timing to use seawater''.

It has also emerged that days before Japan plunged into an atomic crisis at the ageing Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator had admitted faking repair records.

NEW YORK TIMES, AFP

March 19, 2011
Reeling From Crises, Japan Approaches Familiar Crossroads
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
TOKYO — Such was the power of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11 that it bent the tip of Tokyo Tower, the 1,093-foot Eiffel-like structure that has stood as the symbol of Japan’s postwar rebirth for half a century. For the first time since it was erected in 1958, the tower no longer points directly upward, the direction that Japan followed for much of its history after World War II.

The earthquake, whose epicenter was more than 200 miles north of here, and the resulting nuclear crisis, will change this nation. The open question is how, and how much. Will it, along with the bent Tokyo Tower, be a final marker of an irreversible decline? Or will it be an opportunity to draw on the resilience of a people repeatedly tested by calamity to reshape Japan — in the mold of either the left or the right? This disaster, like the 1923 Tokyo earthquake and the 1995 Kobe earthquake, could well signal a new era.

Among the concerns raising questions are the shrinking, starting in 2005, of Japan’s population, the country’s loss to China last year of its vaunted status as the world’s second-largest economy and the aggressive pursuit of nuclear power.

Japan’s economy is likely to suffer, at least in the short term, as power disruptions hobble its industries. If the reactors do melt down, in the worst case, or even if there is a steady release of radioactive vapor, there are implications for public health; on Saturday, the Japanese government announced that some foodstuffs from farms near the nuclear plant contained elevated levels of radiation. Japan’s reputation — and its self-image — as an efficient, prosperous and smoothly functioning society has been dealt a blow.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that we will think of Japan in terms of pre-earthquake and post-earthquake because it has already fundamentally changed Japanese society,” said Yasuyuki Shimizu, a 39-year-old who has drawn attention in Japan for the work of his organization, Life Link, in preventing suicides. “The values of postwar Japan, and the postwar feeling of security, also now lie in ruins. Whether Japan will change in a positive or negative way, we don’t know yet.”

But others argue that the long-term impact on Japan will be more limited — so long as the troubled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, about 170 miles north of here, do not suffer a complete meltdown and affect Tokyo, the nation’s heart. Despite the psychological shock to the nation, the earthquake and tsunami devastated a thinly populated region far from Tokyo and the nation’s other center of gravity, Osaka in western Japan.

“If the nuclear problem doesn’t get bigger, and there’s no panic in the Tokyo area, and no curfew that’s imposed, I don’t think this disaster will be remembered as that significant an incident,” said Eiji Oguma, 49, a professor of policy management at Keio University, adding that he thought it would be compared instead with the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which, rather than spurring lasting change, came to be seen as a symbol of the end of Japan’s bubble era.

Still others saw the disaster as a moment for change, including Takafumi Horie, 38, an entrepreneur who lost his Internet company, Livedoor, in 2006 on minor charges of securities fraud after brashly challenging the business establishment.

“It’s possible that this calamity will rid Japan of its old order,” Mr. Horie, now one of Japan’s most popular authors and bloggers, wrote in an e-mail, adding, “It’s an opportunity to build a new Japan.”

But first is the rebuilding. There are many factors working against Japan’s ability to carry it out as successfully as it has in the past: the absence of strong national leadership, the country’s declining economic strength and the simple lack of young people in the northern region.

When Japan resurrected itself after even bigger disasters, like the 1923 earthquake that destroyed Tokyo or the war that ended with the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan was a vigorous, young and growing country, said Kazutoshi Hando, 80, a historian of the period between the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when Japan began its drive to modernize, and World War II. Today, the population is expected to keep shrinking.

“Just as we were thinking this was a problem we had to tackle now, this catastrophe occurred,” Mr. Hando said of the declining population. “This has slowed us down. That’s the biggest problem. We’ll simply run out of workers.”

Still, Mr. Hando, who survived the American wartime firebombings that destroyed much of Tokyo, said that Japan had defied everyone’s expectations by rising quickly from the ashes.

“Based on my experience of the war and its aftermath, I think Japan will be all right,” he said.

Mr. Hando talked of tapping the Japanese people’s “hidden strength” — an expression that has appeared repeatedly in the Japanese news media in the past week, one that politicians have also seized. Implicit in the praise of Japanese traits of endurance, perseverance and grace — strengths evident in the orderly response to the unfathomable destruction up north — is a criticism of the perceived values that led to the nuclear accidents: the postwar blind pursuit of material wealth and comfort that put 55 nuclear reactors on some of the world’s most unstable land, despite Japan’s singular history as the target of atomic bombs.

“Japan stood at the top once before, so it’s all right if it becomes second class,” said Mitsuru Nakamura, 62, who was chatting with a friend in front of an apartment building near Tokyo Tower on Friday morning. He added: “It should become a country where the elderly and children can live safely. The improvement of people’s lives should become important.”

Being No. 20 in the world was enough, his friend added.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, nationalist politicians — who have long said that postwar Japanese have become selfish and unwilling to sacrifice for the nation’s good — are already trying to harness those sentiments in a different direction.

Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo, said the quake and tsunami were “divine punishment” that “should be used” to “sweep away” the Japanese people’s “selfishness,” “materialism” and “worship of money.”

Sitting inside her small tobacco shop in the Toranomon neighborhood, Mitsuko Watanabe, 80, also pointed to selfishness and untrustworthy leaders as factors undermining Japanese society.

“When a country’s leaders are bad, natural disasters occur,” she said and, unprompted, referred to the governor. “I’m not Shintaro, but I think divine punishment isn’t wrong.”

Ms. Watanabe and her husband have owned the tobacco shop, which faces Tokyo Tower, for close to six decades. She said she had watched construction workers raise the tower, which instantly became a symbol of Japan’s rise after World War II. The nation hailed its soaring height, the claim that it was the world’s tallest self-supported steel structure and its use to transmit a new technology, television.

Yoshihiro Watanabe, a spokesman for Nippon Television City, said that it was the first time that an earthquake had bent Tokyo Tower. The company has yet to decide when to straighten it.

In Toranomon shop owners facing the tower said they were confident that Japan would pull itself up.

“Rebuilding after World War II was much more difficult,” said Hayato Kikukawa, 32, the owner of a small cafe, adding that straightening Tokyo Tower should not be a priority.

But at a nearby udon restaurant, where he was getting ready for the lunchtime crowd, Keiichi Shimoda, 48, said, “If they fix Tokyo Tower, then I’ll think, now things are all right.”

Fuhito Shimoyama contributed reporting.

Sabtu, 19 Maret 2011

Gadhafi, time to MAKE PEACE lah youw ... FINALLY HE'S GONE away

Pengakuan Talitha van Zon, Bekas Kekasih Mutassim Qaddafi tentang Gaya Hidup Anak Qaddafi
RepublikaRepublika – Sen, 29 Agu 2011




REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TRIPOLI - Model glamor mantan kekasih Mutassim Qaddafi, anak pimpinan Libya Moammar Qaddafi, nyaris dibakar hidup-hidup oleh pemberontak. Talitha van Zon, nama model itu, berhasil menyelamatkan diri dan bersembunyi.

Menurutnya, lama tak bertemu Mutassim, ia terkejut saat menjumpainya terakhir kali. "Dia berubah," katanya pada Sunday Telegraph di rumah sakit tempat ia dirawat karena luka-lukanya setelah terjun bebas dari balkon, saat menyematkan diri ketika hendak dibakar hidup-hidup pemberontak.

Pertemuan saat itu, katanya, adalah yang pertama sejak Februari 2011. "Dia kini memiliki jenggot panjang, duduk di sofa yang di atasnya berserakan senjata otomatis. Dia dijaga pemuda berusia 16 tahun dengan senapan mesin yang wajahnya garang," katanya.

Usia percintaan mereka hanya tiga bulan, ketika Talitha mengklaim ada perempuan lain yang membuat Mutassim tertambat hatinya. Mantan model Playboy ini menyatakan bergelimang kemewahan saat menjadi kekasih putra Qaddafi itu.

Dia, misalnya, mengaku pernah diterbangkan keliling dunia, dan singgah di Monaco untuk makan malam dengan Putri Caroline. Saat Natal, ia habiskan waktu di resort mewah di Kepulauan Karibia, diterbangkan dengan jet pribadi.

Menurutnya, jika Mutassim berada di Paris atau London, ia akan menyewa beberapa lantai dalam satu hotel yang paling mahal dan mengundang teman-temannya berpesta. Penata rambut asal Italia selalu menyertainya.

Suat saat, secara iseng dia pernah bertanya pada Muttasim berapa uang yang dihabiskannya untuk membiayai gaya hidupnya. Terlihat berhitung, putra Qaddafi itu kemudian menjawab: 2 juta dolar AS. "Aku bertanya, 'yang kau maksud selama satu tahun?' dan dia menjawab, 'tidak, satu bulan'," katanya.

Ia menyebut sederet hadiah yang pernah diberikan Mutassim, antara lain tas-tas koleksi Louis Vuitton dan arloji mewah.

Selama di Libya, ia tak pernah berjumpa dengan Muammar Qaddafi. Ia tinggal di rumah pantai Mutassim, yang terdiri dari beberapa vila dan perabotan mewah.

Talitha mengatakan bahwa Mutassim membantah bahwa rakyat Libya ditindas. Mereka digratiskan dari biaya perawatan rumah sakit dan biaya sekolah. "Roti murah dan beras juga mudah didapat," ia menirukan Muttasim.

Gaddafi to "fight to end" as rebels seize HQ
230811
1:08pm EDT

By Peter Graff and Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Triumphant rebels seized Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli on Tuesday after a fierce battle with a loyalist rearguard but there was no word on the fate of the Libyan leader who vowed again to fight "to the end."

Reuters journalists watched rebel fighters stream through the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound, firing in the air in celebration after hours of heavy clashes. But it was unclear whether the "Brother Leader" or his sons were still somewhere in the complex's maze of buildings and bunkers.

Defensive fire died away and hundreds of jubilant rebels poured in. Some smashed a statue of Gaddafi. Others hunted through dozens of buildings, unchallenged, seizing weaponry and vehicles. The rebels' envoy to the United Nations said the area was "totally in the hands of the revolutionaries."

One man shouted: "It's over. Gaddafi is finished."

The Russian head of the World Chess Federation, who visited Gaddafi in Tripoli in June, said he had received a call from him on Tuesday afternoon in which Gaddafi said he was still in the capital. He "is in Tripoli, he is alive and healthy and is prepared to fight to the end," Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told Reuters.

The rebels' envoy in Rome, Hafed Gaddur, said: "It seems clear that he is confined to his bunker complex."

"We thought Tripoli would be liberated in one month or perhaps even two months, instead that happened in just a few hours, a day, so we've made great progress," he told Reuters.

Western governments, which have backed disparate opposition groups, said they could not be sure where the 69-year-old leader was but urged him to surrender after six months of civil war which have put an end to his four decades of absolute power.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after speaking to U.S. President Barack Obama that the end of Gaddafi's rule was "inevitable and near."

NATO, which declined to confirm reports that its air forces bombed Gaddafi's compound to aid the rebels, said Gaddafi's whereabouts were unclear but no longer a major concern.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said he believed Gaddafi was still in Libya and that his forces remained a threat. He also said the United States was monitoring chemical weapons sites in Libya, amid worries that groups hostile to Western interests could try to seize stocks once built up by Gaddafi.

SWIFT END SOUGHT

Western leaders are anxious for a rapid end to fighting -- tensions among rebels are a concern for those hoping for a swift return of order and a reopening of Libyan oil exports.

"We hope this is over soon," said an unemployed engineer watching events near Gaddafi's compound. "I fear that the violence will continue until Gaddafi and his family have left the country," he added, giving his name only as Omar.

Another bystander said: "Gaddafi is finished, even if some snipers and mercenaries are still resisting. But there is no doubt that we are free and Gaddafi is finished."

There are growing concerns for civilians in the city, after days of siege and fighting in which officials have suggested hundreds of combatants may have been killed or wounded.

At a private house several miles from the center, wounded from the fighting were being treated, to the sound of gunfire.

"We need medication and stretchers, this situation is a disaster," medical student Shuaib Rais told Reuters.

CREDIBILITY

Speaking after Gaddafi's son and long-time heir-apparent Saif al-Islam confounded rebel claims of his capture by appearing to journalists at the Bab al-Aziziya compound early on Tuesday, several analysts said the credibility of the disparate opposition movement had suffered a serious setback.

Though the credibility of Saif al-Islam's claims that his father's supporters were winning the war was also threadbare, confusion among the rebels, who seemed to have allowed two of Gaddafi's sons to escape on Monday, embarrassed their backers.

Noman Benotman, senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank and an associate of Gaddafi's former spy chief, said: "Gaddafi is banking on the rebels making a mess of Tripoli and causing chaos. He is relying on them to behave badly.

"They want rival militia zones to start springing up ... That's why it's critical for the rebels to get their act together."

Residents, many of whom had taken to the streets on Sunday to celebrate the end of Gaddafi's 42-year rule, stayed indoors as the irregular rebel armies that swept the capital ran into resistance from sharpshooters, tanks and other heavy weaponry.

DIVISIONS

The lack of clear control, however, has revived concerns the sprawling, thinly populated desert state could fall into the kind of instability that has beset Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow. Gaddafi loyalists and anti-Western Islamists could exploit Libya's ethnic, tribal and political divisions.

Rebel officials say they have a force ready to impose order in the capital, as they have generally done in parts of the country they have taken since February. But it is not yet clear how they will handle traditional east-west divisions if they consolidate their grip on the country.

The uncharacteristically efficient rebel advance into the capital, coordinated with an uprising inside the city, seemed evidence to some analysts of the military advice and training Western and some Arab powers, including Qatar, have provided.

Many assume special forces are also active on the ground.

Outside powers, including U.S. President Obama, have been at pains to characterize the revolt against Gaddafi as quite different from the Western assault on Saddam, saying it is a home-grown uprising inspired by other Arab protest movements that overthrew Western-backed autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.

Aid, some of it in the form of Libyan state funds seized from accounts controlled by Gaddafi, and advice will be plentiful, foreign governments assured the rebel leadership in Benghazi as it contemplates moving to Tripoli.

But all have ruled out sending in ground troops to bolster a new government which faces considerable difficulties in setting up a new administration given Gaddafi's four-decade reliance on informal governance and a personality cult.

"We've sought to learn the lessons of the failures of Iraq, which have very much influenced our thinking -- trying to make sure we don't make the same mistakes again," said British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

(Reporting by Missy Ryan, Peter Graff, Ulf Laessing, Zohra Bensemra and Leon Malherbe in Tripoli, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Robert Birsel in Benghazi, William Maclean and Peter Apps in London, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Souhail Karam in Rabat, Richard Valdmanis and Giles Elgood in Tunis, Laura MacInnis and Alister Bull in Oak Bluffs, Mass., Nour Merza in Dubai, Deepa Babington in Rome and Alexandria Sage in Paris; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

22 Agustus 2011, bisnis indonesia
JAKARTA: Pemberontak Libia mengatakan mereka menangkap dua putra Muammar Qaddafi setelah menguasai ibu kota Tripoli untuk memaksa Qaddafi setelah berkuasa hampir 42 tahun.

Pasukan Qaddafi sedikit melakukan perlawanan dan pecah di pusat kota. Juru bicara rezim Moussa Ibrahim mengatakan Qaddafi siap untuk bernegosiasi dengan Mustafa Abdel Jalil, kepala dewan pemberontak, dan meminta untuk segera gencatan senjata.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, sekretaris jenderal dari North Atlantic Treaty Organization, yang telah mendukung pemberontak dengan pemboman udara sejak Maret, mengatakan dalam sebuah pernyataan online bahwa "rezim jelas runtuh" dan "Qaddafi sebiknya cepat menyadari bahwa dia tidak dapat memenangkan pertempuran terhadap rakyatnya sendiri."

Putra Qaddafi itu, Saif al-Islam, dianggap ahli warisnya berkuasa, ditangkap di kota dan pemberontak sedang berupaya menangkap ayahnya, kata Mohamad Al Akari, seorang penasihat kepada Dewan Transisi Nasional, badan yang mengatur pemberontak. Anak kedua Qaddafi, Muhammad, juga ditangkap, Al Jazeera melaporkan.

"Saya di rumah saya, pemberontak ada sekitarnya," kata Mohammed Qaddafi dalam sebuah wawancara telepon dengan Al-Jazeera. "Mereka berjanji mereka tidak akan menyakiti saya dan itu adalah sinyal yang baik antara saudara."

Para pemberontak berharap akhir rezim dalam hitungan jam, Akari mengatakan.

"Ini adalah hari terbesar dalam hidup saya melihat orang-orang Libia kembali merasakan kebebasan mereka," kata Ali Suleiman Aujali, kuasa urusan Amerika Serikat, yang sebagai duta besar AS sebelum beralih ke sisi pemberontak. "Dia pergi dengan cara yang sangat halus," katanya dari Washington dalam wawancara dengan Al Jazeera.


http://www.bisnis.com/articles/pemberontak-kuasai-tripoli-dua-putera-qaddafi-ditangkap

Sumber : BISNIS.COM
Western warplanes, missiles hit Libyan targets

7:34pm EDT

By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Western forces hit targets along the Libyan coast on Saturday, using strikes from air and sea to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians.

French planes fired the first shots in what is the biggest international military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, destroying tanks and armored vehicles in the region of the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.

Hours later, U.S. and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles against air defenses around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, U.S. military officials said.

They said U.S. forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation "Odyssey Dawn".

Gaddafi called it "colonial, crusader" aggression.

"It is now necessary to open the stores and arm all the masses with all types of weapons to defend the independence, unity and honor of Libya," he said in an audio message broadcast on state television hours after the strikes began.

State television said the "crusader enemy" hit civilian areas of Tripoli and fuel storage tanks that supplied Misrata.

Residents in Misrata said air strikes had targeted a military airbase where Gaddafi loyalists were based.

Several Tripoli residents said they heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district. "I heard an explosion. I saw a flash, it was a very strong explosion," said one.

In Benghazi, where earlier on Saturday rebels said they had beaten back an advance by Gaddafi's troops, residents welcomed the military intervention but were also apprehensive.

"We think this will end Gaddafi's rule. Libyans will never forget France's stand with them. If it weren't for them, then Benghazi would have been overrun tonight," said Iyad Ali, 37.

"We salute, France, Britain, the United States and the Arab countries for standing with Libya. But we think Gaddafi will take out his anger on civilians. So the West has to hit him hard," said Khalid al-Ghurfaly, a civil servant, 38.

"ALL NECESSARY MEANS"

Earlier on Saturday, leaders meeting in Paris announced the start of military intervention after Gaddafi's troops pushed into the outskirts of Benghazi in spite of a U.N. resolution passed on Thursday calling for an end to attacks on civilians.

"Those taking part agreed to put in place all necessary means, especially military, to enforce the decisions of the United Nations Security Council," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after the meeting of Western and Arab leaders.

"Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen," British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the meeting. "We cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue."

Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite a U.S. insistence -- repeated on Saturday -- that it has no plans to send ground troops into Libya.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that outside powers hoped their intervention would be enough to turn the tide against Gaddafi and allow Libyans to force him out.

"It is our belief that if Mr. Gaddafi loses the capacity to enforce his will through vastly superior armed forces, he simply will not be able to sustain his grip on the country."

A U.S. military slide showed some 25 coalition ships, including three U.S. submarines armed with Tomahawk missiles, are stationed in the Mediterranean.

The Libyan government has blamed rebels, who it says belong to al Qaeda, for breaking a ceasefire it announced on Friday.

In Tripoli, several thousand people gathered at the Bab al-Aziziyah palace, Gaddafi's compound that was bombed by U.S. warplanes in 1986, to show their support.

"There are 5,000 tribesmen that are preparing to come here to fight with our leader. They better not try to attack our country," said farmer Mahmoud el-Mansouri.

"We will open up Libya's deserts and allow Africans to flood to Europe to blow themselves up as suicide bombers."

U.S. SAYS NOT LEADING INTERVENTION

France and Britain have taken a lead role in pushing for international intervention in Libya and the United States -- after embarking on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- has been at pains to stress it is supporting, not leading, the operation.

In announcing the missile strikes, which came eight years to the day after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Obama said the effort was intended to protect the Libyan people.

"Today I authorized the armed forces of the United States to begin a limited action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians," Obama told reporters in Brasilia, where he had begun a five-day tour of Latin America.

He said U.S. troops were acting in support of allies, who would lead the enforcement of a no-fly zone to stop Gaddafi's attacks on rebels. "As I said yesterday, we will not, I repeat, we will not deploy any U.S. troops on the ground," Obama said.

But despite Washington's determination to stress the limits of its role, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the U.S. military's Joint Staff, said the missile strikes were only the first phase of a multiphase action.

Many analysts do not think Western powers would be satisfied with a de facto partition which left the rebels in control in the east and Gaddafi running a rump state in the west.

One participant at the Paris meeting said that Clinton and others had stressed Libya should not be split in two.

And Obama on Friday specifically called on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well from the east.

But security analysts have questioned what western powers will do if Gaddafi digs in.

"It's going to be far less straightforward if Gaddafi starts to move troops into the cities which is what he has been trying to do for the past 24 hours," said Marko Papic at the STRATFOR global intelligence group.

"Once he does that it becomes a little bit more of an urban combat environment and at that point it's going to be difficult to use air power from 15,000 feet to neutralize that."

THOUSANDS FLEE BENGHAZI

Earlier on Saturday hundreds of cars full of refugees fled Benghazi toward the Egyptian border after the city came under a bombardment overnight. One family of 13 women from a grandmother to small children, rested at a roadside hotel.

"I'm here because when the bombing started last night my children were vomiting from fear," said one of them, a doctor. "All I want to do is get my family to a safe place and then get back to Benghazi to help. My husband is still there."

Those who remained set up make-shift barricades with furniture, benches, road signs and even a barbecue in one case at intervals along main streets. Each barricade was manned by half a dozen rebels, but only about half of those were armed.

In the besieged western city of Misrata, residents said government forces shelled the rebel town again early on Saturday, while water supplies had been cut off for a third day.

"I am telling you, we are scared and we are alone", a Misrata resident, called Saadoun, told Reuters by telephone.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas and Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Tom Perry in Cairo, Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers; John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, Missy Ryan in Washington, Writing by Myra MacDonald; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Jumat, 18 Maret 2011

NEO hak azasi MANUSIA

Sabtu, 19/03/2011 08:39 WIB
Wow, Mayoritas Warga AS Dukung Perkawinan Gay
Laurencius Simanjuntak - detikNews






Washington - Mayoritas warga AS menyatakan mendukung perwakinan sesama jenis. 53 Persen publik Paman Sam itu mendukung perwakinan gay. Angka ini meningkat 20 persen dari survei terakhir tahun 2004 yakni, 32 persen.

Demikian disampaikan sebuah survei yang mencermin pergeseran sentimen AS terhadap isu perkawinan sejenis ini, seperti dikutip AFP, Sabtu (19/3/2011). Survei dilakukan atas 1.005 orang dewasa selama empat hari dalam pekan terakhir.

Gary Langer dari Langer Research Associates, lembaga yang menggelar survei, menyebutkan hasil risetnya itu sebagai "tonggak hasil bagi sebuah pergeseran perilaku publik yang dramatis."

Lima tahun lalu, hanya mayoritas anak muda yang berusia di bawah 30 tahun yang mendukung perkawinan gay. Namun, saat ini mayoritas dari mereka yang berusia 30-an dan 40-an tahun mendukung hal tersebut, sebagaimana ditunjukkan hasil survei.

Meski demikian, secara keseluruhan publik Amerika masih terbelah soal perkawinan gay, dengan sejumlah orang dewasa yang secara keras menentang perkawinan sejenis.

Survei juga menyatakan, kaum Republik menentang perkawinan gay dengan rasio dua banding satu, dan evangelis Protestan kulit putih, yang menjadi inti kaum konservatif, menentang perkawinan gay dengan rasio tiga banding satu.

Perkawinan gay adalah legal di lima negara bagian AS, di ibokuta, Washington, dan sebagian kecil wilayah juga mengizinkan perkawinan itu.

Pemerintahan Obama bulan lalu mengatakan, pihaknya tidak akan lama lagi mempertahankan konstitusionalitas UU Perkawinan 1996 yang melarang federal mengakui perkawinan gay. Namun demikian, Republikan yang memimpin DPR AS berjanji akan berjuang untuk menggagalkan keputusan presiden itu di pengadilan.

The Obama administration late last month said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law banning federal recognition of gay marriages, but the Republican-led House of Representatives has vowed to fight the president's decision in the courts.

(lrn/lrn)

Kamis, 10 Maret 2011

the aged secrets

Pasca WikiLeaks, Presiden Dikabarkan Tak Sehat
Jum'at, 11 Maret 2011 | 14:01 WIB



TEMPO Interaktif, Jakarta - Setelah pemberitaan dua koran Australia The Age dan Sidney Morning Herald yang mengutip bocoran WikiLeaks, kondisi Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono dikabarkan kurang sehat. Hari ini, Jumat 11 Maret 2011, Presiden juga dikabarkan tidak mengikuti salat Jumat seperti biasanya yang digelar di Masjid Baitul Rahi, Komplek Istana Kepresidenan.

Meski begitu, Presiden pagi tadi sempat menerima delegasi Tun Musa Hitam, Utusan Khusus Perdana Menteri Malaysia dan Ketua World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) di Kantor Presiden. Presiden, bahkan terlihat berjalan dari Istana Negara menuju kantor Presiden dan berbincang dengan Menteri Sekretaris Negara Sudi Silalahi.

Ditemui terpisah, Sudi Silalahi membenarkan kondisi Presiden. " Ya, Presiden kurang sehat," kata Sudi, Jumat (11/3).

Menurut Sudi, kesehatan Presiden sedang kurang baik. Apalagi, kegiatan Presiden selama beberapa pekan terakhir sangat padat dan tanpa istirahat sehingga mempengaruhi kesehatannya. "Kadang-kadang kita pahami bagaimana kegiatan enggak ada istirahatnya hanya kita abdikan untuk kemaslahatan bangsa dan negara," katanya.

Seperti diberitakan, berita utama kedua koran itu mengutip bocoran Wikileaks yang secara eksklusif menceritakan penyalahgunaan kekuasaan oleh Presiden Yudhoyono.

Dalam berita itu, disebutkan Yudhoyono, menurut sumber-sumber diplomat Amerika Serikat di Indonesia pada Desember 2004 memerintahkan Hendarman Supandji, waktu itu Jaksa Agung Muda Tindak Pidana Khusus untuk menghentikan penyidikan kasus korupsi yang melibatkan Taufiq Kiemas, Ketua Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat yang juga suami mantan presiden Megawati.

Berita juga menyebut keluarga Yudhoyono, khususnya Ibu Negara memanfaatkan posisi politiknya untuk mendapatkan keuntungan pribadi.

Menurut Sudi, Presiden terpukul dengan pemberitaan itu. Begitu membaca koran itu, Presiden, langsung mengurut dada. "Nauzubillah Min Dzalik, itu tidak kita lakukan, tapi itu dikatakan kita lakukan," kata Sudi mengutip perkataan Presiden.

Ibu Negara, Kristiani Herawati juga menangis mendengar kabar itu karena tidak ada secuil yang dituduhkan itu benar.

Sudi mengatakan Ibu negara secara transparan kegiatan itu dilakukan, mulai dari kegiatan pendidikan, sosial, penghijauan dan lingkungan hidup. "Itu yang dilakukan beliau dan transparan," ujarnya.


EKO ARI WIBOWO

AS Pastikan Informasi Soal SBY Masih Mentah
Headline
Oleh: MA Hailuki
Nasional - Jumat, 11 Maret 2011 | 15:06 WIB


INILAH.COM, Jakarta - Kedutaan Besar Amerika Serikat di Jakarta tidak bisa memastikan keaslian kawat diplomatik tentang Presiden SBY dan Ibu Negara Ani Yudhoyono yang dibocorkan Wikileaks sebagaimana pemberitaan media masa Australia, The Age.

"Kami tidak dapat berbicara tentang keaslian dokumen yang tersebar di media, tetapi kami dapat berbicara praktik penulisan kawat di komunitas diplomatik. Pada dasarnya, laporan lapangan ke Washington adalah apa adanya dan biasanya masih informasi mentah," terang pihak Kedubes dalam rilis yang diterima INILAH.COM, Jumat (11/3/2011).

Kedubes memastikan informasi kawat diplomatik tersebur masih sangat prematur dan belum bisa dipertanggungjawabkan kebenarannya. Dokumen-dokumen tersebut juga tidak bisa mewakili sikap resmi atau kebijakan pemerintah AS.

"Laporan tersebut masih prematur, dan umumnya belum lengkap dan yang belum dibuktikan kebenarannya. Laporan tersebut bukan ekspresi kebijakan, juga tidak selalu dijadikan keputusan kebijakan akhir. Dokumen-dokumen tersebut tidak bisa dilihat secara berdiri sendiri atau mewakili kebijakan AS."

Sebagaimana diberitakan, The Age memberitakan secara ekslusif telah menerima bocoran dari Wikileaks tentang kawat diplomatik Kedutaan Besar Amerika Serikat di Jakarta. Dalam kawat itu dikatakan bahwa Presiden SBY telah melakukan rekayasa hukum dan politik untuk melindungi para politisi korup.

"Kawat (diplomatik) itu mengatakan Dr Yudhoyono telah secara pribadi campur tangan untuk mempengaruhi jaksa dan hakim untuk melindungi tokoh politik korup dan tekanan lawannya, dengan menggunakan Badan Intelijen Indonesia (BIN) untuk memata-matai saingan politik, setidaknya pada seorang menteri senior di pemerintahannya sendiri," begitu tertulis dalam headline The Age edisi Jumat (11/3/2011). [mah]

Jumat, 11/03/2011 11:27 WIB
Istana: SBY Kaget & Sangat Takut Baca Artikel The Age
Rachmadin Ismail - detikNews



Jakarta - Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) kaget dan sangat takut setelah membaca headline "Yudhoyono Abused Power" yang ditampilkan media Australia, The Age. SBY menyesalkan tidak validnya berita tersebut.

"Presiden sangat keget. Kita tidak tahu motif berita itu apa. Jadi yang disesalkan adalah ketidakvalidan data," kata Juru Bicara Presiden SBY Bidang Dalam Negeri, Julian Pasha, saat ditanya reaksi Presiden pertama kali saat membaca berita The Age itu.

Hal ini disampaikan Julian dalam jumpa pers di kantor Presiden, Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara, Jakarta Pusat, Jumat (11/3/2011).

Menurut dia, Presiden SBY sangat kaget dan tidak menyangka. "Kami juga kesulitan karena tidak dilengkapi data. Banyak nama, bukan hanya Presiden SBY dan Ibu Negara yang disebutkan. Beliau kaget dan sangat takut apakah itu beritanya nemu di jalan atau bagaimana," papar Julian dengan mimik serius.

Dikatakan dia, Presiden SBY telah membaca berita yang 'menggempur' dirinya sejak semalam itu. "Semalam sudah baca berita yang dirilis dan diangkat. Pemberitaan yang menyebutkan Presiden SBY dan Ibu Ani tidak berdasarkan fakta," kata Julian.

Headline koran The Age pagi ini memuat judul "Yudhoyono Abused Power'. Di artikel tersebut, dibeberkan tentang penyalahgunaan kekuasaan yang dilakukan oleh Presiden SBY. Tidak hanya itu, koran yang mengambil bahan berita dari kawat diplomatik Wikileaks itu, juga membeberkan dugaan korupsi penting SBY.

Pihak Istana membantah keras tudingan yang dimuat koran The Age yang menyatakan bahwa Presiden SBY telah menyalahgunakan kekuasaan yang dimilikinya. Tudingan itu bahkan dianggap sebagai sampah.

(aan/asy)

Jumat, 11/03/2011 11:16 WIB
The Age: Tomy Winata Punya Koneksi ke Ibu Ani
Fitraya Ramadhanny - detikNews

The Age: Tomy Winata Punya Koneksi ke Ibu Ani


Melbourne - Bukan hanya Presiden SBY saja yang dituding harian The Age berhubungan khusus dengan pengusaha Tomy Winata. Bahkan The Age juga menyebutkan kalau Tomy punya koneksi dengan Ibu Negara Ani Yudhoyono.

Harian The Age edisi Jumat (11/3/2011) merilis berita utama 'Yudhoyono 'abused power'' dan artikel yang lebih mendalam 'Bambang Thank You Ma'am'. Mereka menuding Presiden SBY menyalahgunakan kekuasaanya.

Salah satunya adalah hubungan khusus keluarga SBY dengan pengusaha Tomy Winata, Bos Artha Graha. Kawat diplomatik Kedubes AS yang dibocorkan Wikileaks menyebutkan keluarga SBY menerima gelontoran dana dari Tomy Winata lewat perantara TB Silalahi.

Namun, Ibu Ani juga punya hubungan dengan Tomy. The Age menyebutkan Kedubes AS mendapatkan informasi ini melalui pejabat senior Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN) bernama Yahya Asagaf.

"Pejabat senior BIN juga mengatakan pada Kedubes AS, Tomy mencoba meningkatkan pengaruh dengan menggunakan seorang pembantu presiden sebagai channel ke Ibu Negara Kristiani Herawati," demikian tulisan The Age.

Lantas apa tanggapan Istana? Atas pemberitaan The Age, pihak Istana membantah keras tudingan yang dimuat koran The Age yang menyatakan bahwa Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) telah menyalahgunakan kekuasaan yang dimilikinya. Tudingan itu bahkan dianggap sebagai sampah.

"Kita membantah keras artikel tersebut, bagi kita itu sampah karena tidak ada nilai kebenarannya," ujar Staf Khusus Presiden Bidang Hubungan Internasional Teuku Faizasyah, saat dihubungi detikcom, Jumat (11/3/2011).

(fay/nwk)

Senin, 07 Maret 2011

TIME to LEAVE, Gadhafi

Al Jazeera says rebels reject Gaddafi talks offer
5:41pm EST
CAIRO (Reuters) - Al Jazeera television said Libyan rebels on Monday rejected an offer by Muammar Gaddafi to hold a meeting of parliament to work out a deal under which he would step down.
Al Jazeera said sources from the rebel interim council told its correspondent in Benghazi that the offer was rejected because it would have amounted to an "honorable" exit for Gaddafi and would offend his victims.
Al Jazeera said Gaddafi wanted guarantees of personal safety for him and his family and a pledge that they not be put on trial. It said that Gaddafi had sent former prime minister Jadallah Azzouz Talhi to meet the rebels and offer to hold a meeting of the General People's Congress to work out the details of such a deal.
The offer aimed at having Gaddafi hand over power to a committee formed by the General People's Congress, the television said.
(Reporting by Cairo newsroom, writing by Tom Heneghan)