let me tell you something..

"Jadi dokter itu baik. jadi pedagang itu juga baik. Yang tidak baik adalah dokter yang jadi pedagang dan pedagang yang pura-pura jadi dokter"

blue smile on your face

ini gerbang sebelah selatan kampus..

dan disinilah semuanya bermula.

saat itu sekitar jam 12 siang (GMT + 8). aku dan 2 kawan dari Indonesia mau cari makan. kita bertiga sengaja mencari tempat makan halal food yang sudah diberitahu oleh pak nafi sebelumnya saat kita masih di indonesia.

begitu masuk, disana ramai sekali, karena itu adalah jam makan siang. kita bingung, tak tahu harus bicara apa dan dimana, karena orang lalu lalang dan saling berbicara dengan bahasa mereka. menu makanan pun ditulis memakai bahasa cina. oh well.. where sould we start then?

dan selanjutnya,,
ada dua pemuda cina yang berbicara dalam bahasa inggris dengan logat khas cina, bertanya "do you want to buy food?"

dan saat itulah kami merasa sangat bahagia, karena ada yang menawarkan bantuan sebagai translator.

setelah itu kita berlima makan bersama, dan mereka mengantar kita untuk membeli nomor cina. dan karena prosesnya lama, maka mereka berdua telat datang ke kelas sejarah mereka. dan kita bertiga pun diminta mereka untuk bersama-sama datang menemui mr.todd, dosen sejarah mereka, agar mr.todd percaya dengan alasan mereka. it's fun,, karena kita menjadi kenal baik dengan mr.todd

dan saat membeli nomor cina itu, kita diminta untuk mengisi nama china kita. what? cinese name? I don't even have one.

dan win win solution,
mbak-mbak officer nya sama dua orang teman kita itu, memberikan nama cina untuk kita.

and mine is,,
蓝研 ( Lán Yán )

yang artinya,,
blue smile on your face. hahhahaha :))
Lán artinya biru (represent the peace)
Yán artinya belajar atau mempelajari..

mungkin maksudnya senyum damai di wajah orang yg suka belajar..
hehehe..

spring with less sunshine

here are several photos in my early days in china

snowy spring..

need more sunshine to make those sakura trees in blossom

Rakyat dan Raja

Ketika pemimpin-pemimpin negara tiap malam berselimut khawatir bahwa mereka akan digulingkan, mereka tak pernah memberi kehangatan pada rakyat mereka. Sebagaimana rakyat tak bisa tidur nyenyak memikirkan kezhaliman apalagi yang esok pagi akan diperbuat pemimpin-pemimpin mereka.

The Islamic Economics

Islam takes a positive view of life considering the right of living. The values of right of living, that Islam spreads in all sectors of human activity. There is no strictly common sectors of life according to Islam. Action in every field of human activity, including economics, is spiritual, provided it is in harmony with the goals and values of Islam. It is really these goals and values that determine the nature of the economic system of Islam. A proper understanding of these is therefore essential for a better perspective of the economic system of Islam. These goals and values are:

1. Economic well-being within the framework of the moral norms of Islam;
2. Universal brotherhood and justice;
3. Equitable distribution of income;
4. Freedom of the individual within the context of social welfare.

This list of goals is by no means complete but should provide a sufficient framework for discussing and elaborating the Islamic economic system and highlighting those characteristics which distinguish the Islamic system from the two prevalent systems, capitalism and socialism.

Eat and drink of which God has provided and act not corruptly, making mischief in the world (al-Quran 2:60).

O mankind! Eat of what is lawful and good on earth and follow not the footsteps of the devil (al-Quran 2:168)

O you who believe! Forbid not the good thing which God has made lawful for you and exceed not the limits God loves not those who exceed the limits. And eat the lawful and good that God has given you, and keep your duty to God in whom you believe (al-Quran 5:87-88)

These verses of the Qur’an, and there are many others, strike the keynote of the Qur’an message in the economic field. Islam urges Muslims to enjoy the bounties provided by God and sets no quantitative limits to the extent of the material growth of Muslim society. It even equates the struggle for material well-being with an act of virtue.

When the prayer is ended, then disperse in the land and seek of God’s bounty… (al-Qur’an, 62:10)

Islam goes even further than those verses. It urges Muslims to gain mastery over nature because, according to the Qur’an, all resources in the heavens an the earth have been created for the service of mankind, and because, as the Prophet said, ‘there is no malady for which God has not created a cure’. From this, one cannot but infer that the goal of attaining a suitably high rate of economic growth should be among the economic goals of a Muslim society because this would be the manifestation of a continuous effort to use, through research and improvements in technology, the resources provided by God for the service and betterment of mankind, thus helping in the fulfillment of the very object of their creation.
Islam has prohibited begging and urged Muslims to earn their livelihood. From this premise one may infer that one of the economic goals of a Muslim society should be able to create such an economic environment that those who are willing to and looking for work are not accomplished then Muslim society cannot succeed even in its spiritual aims, because those unemployed would be subjected to a life of hardship unless they depend on the dole, or resort to begging or immoral practices, all of which, particularly the last two, would be repugnant to the spirit of Islam.
This stress of Islam on economic well-being springs from the very nature of its message. Islam is designed to serve as a ‘blessing’ for mankind, and aims at making life richer and worth the living and not poorer, full of hardship.
These are some of the characteristic of Islamic economics; it covers the universal brotherhood and justice. Not only for Muslims, but also for all humankind of non-Muslims. It covers many sides from the social justice, economic justice, and many others. And it is also equitable distribution of income, freedom of the individual within the context of social welfare.

One of the examples: Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad

Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad was established in 1983, and the government of Malaysia has done to facilitate the establishment and operations of BIMB. The Muslims in Malaysia, like their counterparts elsewhere, had for a long time the desire to practice the rules of Shari’ah in the fields of banking and finance. This desire was especially rekindled when, in the early 1970’s, there was a successful move to establish Islamic banks in West Asia.
Their desire finally was made true in the appointment by the Honorable Prime Minister of Malaysia, of a National Steering Committee on Islamic Bank on 30th July 1980. On 5th July 1981, the committee submitted its report, which was accepted by the government. Among others, the committee recommended that:
1. An Islamic bank, which operates according to the rules of the Shari’ah should be established.
2. The bank should be incorporated as a limited company under the Companies Act 1965.
3. In order to provide for licensing and supervision of the bank, an Act, styled on the Islamic Bank Act 1983, should be legislated and some consequential amendments should be made to the existing related Acts.
4. Bank Negara Malaysia (the Central Bank) should administer the Islamic Bank Act 1983.
5. The Bank should set up a religious supervisory council to supervise the compliance of its operations with shari’ah principles.

partnership

a partnership is an agreement of sole proprietors to pool their assets and talents in a business. like the sole proprietorship, partners are exposed to unlimited liability, limited life of the business, business income is combined with personal income for tax purposes; unlike a sole proprietorship, more than one person is involved, and thus, more capital may be raised in financial markets. modern partnerships have a parallel in classical musharaka and mudaraba.

a partnership is similar to a proprietorship except that is owned by two or more individuals.
- in Indonesia we know firma and CV as two types of partnership
- combines the skills and resources of more than one person

a partnership is an association of two or more persons who own and manage a business for profit. partnerships have several characteristics with accounting implications. in Indonesia, there are three types of partnership recognized by Civil Code : Civil Partnership (Persekutuan Perdata), Firm (Firma) and Limited Partnership (CV).

a partnership has 'limited life'. a partnership dissolves whenever a partner ceases to be a member of the firm. for example, a partnership is dissolved if a partner withdraws due to bankruptcy, incapacity, or death. likewise, admitting a new partner dissolves the old partnership. when a partnership is dissolved, the remaininng partners must form a new partnership if operations of business are to continue.

in most partnerships, the partners have 'unlimited liability'. that is, each partner is individually liable to creditors for debts incurred by the partnership. thus, if a partnership becomes insolvent, the partners must contribute sufficient personal assets to settle the debts of the partnership.

partners have co-ownership of partnership property. the property invested in a partnership by a partner becomes the joint property of all the partners. when a the partnership is dissolved, the partner's claims against the assets are measured by the amount of the balances in their capital accounts.

another characteristic of partnership is mutual agency. this means that each partner is an agent of the partnership. the acts of each partner commit the entire partnership and become the obligations of all partners. for example, any partner can enter into a contract on behalf of all the members of the partnership. this is why partnerships should be formed only with people you trust.

an important right of partners is participation in income of the partnership. net income and net loss are ditributed among the partners according to their agreement.

a partnership, like a proprietorship, is a nontaxable entity and thus does not pay federal income taxes. however, revenue and expense and other results of partnership must be reported anually to the Tax Office. the partners must, in turn, report their share of partnership income on their personal tax returns.

a partnership is created by a contract, known as the partnership agreement or articles of partnership. it should include statements regarding such matters as amounts to be invested, limits on withdrawals, distributions of income and loses, and admission and withdrawal of partners.

the partnership form is less widely used than the proprietorship and corporate forms. however, a partnership has the advantage of bringing together more capital, managerial skills, and experience than does a proprietorship. a partnership is relatively easy and inexpensive to organize, requiring only an agreement between two or more persons. in addition, like a proprietorship, a partnership is a nontaxable entity.

a major disadvantage of the partnership is the unlimited liability feature for partners. other disadvantages of a partnership are that its life is limited, and one partner can bind the partnership to contracts. also, raising large amounts of capital is more difficult for a partnership than for a corporation.

partnership agreements often have limitations on 'related party transactions'. a related party transaction can give rise to a conflict of interest. for example, most agreements would want to limit or disclose partnership transactions with other entities owned by a partner.

proprietorship

the sole proprietor business blends the personal and business assets of the individual toward a business venture. the sole proprietor incurs unlimited liability (exposure of personal assets to business obligations), limited life, business and personal income/assets are viewed by taking authorities as one, and because of these risks, has considerable difficulty raising funds in financial markets.

it is one of the commmon forms of business entities in Indonesia. the forms and the characteristics of proprietorship are:
- most of business entities in Indonesia is proprietorship
- cost of organizing is low
- is limited to financial resources of the owner
- is used by small business

the most common type of proprietorships are proffesional service providers, such ass lawyers, architects, realtors and physicians.

a proprietorship is simple to form. for example, a person providing child-care services for friends of the family is a proprietor. there are no legal restrictions or forms to file in forming a proprietorship. the ease of forming a proprietorship is one of its main advantages. in addition, the individual owner can usually make business decisions without consulting others. this ability to be one's own boss is a major reason why many individuals organize their businesses as proprietorships.

a proprietorship is a separate entity for accounting purpose, and when the owner dies or retires, the proprietorship ceases to exist. for income tax purposes, however, the proprietorship is not treated as a separate taxable entity. the income or loss is said to "pass through" to the owner's individual income tax return. thus, the income from a proprietorship is taxed only at the individual level.

a primary disadvantage of a proprietorship is the difficulty in raising large amount of capital. investment in the business is limited to the amounts that the owner can provide from personal resources, plus any additional amounts that can be raised through borrowing. in addition, the owner is personally liable for any debts or legal claims against the business. in other words, if the business fails, creditors have rights to the personal assets of the owner, regardless of the amount of the owner's actual investment in the enterprise.

a variant of the regular partnership is a limited partnership. a limited partnership is a unique legal form that allows partners who are not involved in the operations of the partnership to retain limited liability. in such a form, at least one general partner must operate the partnership and retain unlimited liability. the remaining partners are considered limited partners.