Bengawan Solo | stress over Sulu

Bengawan Solo riwayat mu ini Sedari dulu, jadi perhatian dewi Sari Musim kemarau, tak berapa airmu Di musimhujan air meluap sampai jauh Mata airmu dari Solo, Terkurung gunung seribu Air mengalir sampai jauh Akhirnya kelaut Itu perahu, riwayatnya dulu Kaum pedagang selalu Naik itu perahu -- Gesang Martohartono

This is your story Oh Solo River Ever since Angels lent their favor In droughts your waters trickled In plenty fancies tickled You came from Solo Where mountains in thousands kept you captive Till over the wide oceans you flow And thence wherever your fancies go That quaint boat its story ages told And traders with ample goods laden in its hold

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Usman Awang | Kemanusiaan - The Makover

This is my impression or translation of Usman Awang's Poem, "KEMANUSIAAN". It was written in November, 1963 but the principal issue sounds so contemporary, same as often spoken about by Chomsky decades before the millennium in talks and debates around US campuses.

It appears to have been written following former President Kennedy's assasination of November 1963.

Poems of this genre are so rare from the local poets these days, but I must have missed others other than what the recent ones Pak Samad have penned.

The makeover

The leaves and the breeze only fluttered with the banners
as unhearing and mute they knew not nor quivered with news of great import
as desired of petrified people as such great news break

They had seen before how red blood was shed by Adam's sons
in battles waged in victories and defeat
and how deaths were sung all yonder
and lives wagered till all ground turned to graves

how many teardrops for each who had died
before more and more coffins draw more tears
that were they to be compared shame falls of Niagara's
those tears of loved ones and loved sons
of waiting girls and grieving mothers.

If you regret a single death
but in phony sympathy shed not a tear for others
then humanity crowns not in the face of truth
for is it humanity if it is not boundless?

Now as each City all over weeps and cries out its grief
as should humanity throb and feel
not a soul will cry for future fatality
or would say: let us snuff out enmity
for those who have loved and lost, weep
the world is a makeover: life is a bleeding death

Translated from:
"KEMANUSIAAN, (Kematian Kennedy)", Usman Awang, "DURI DAN API"
Kuala Lumpur, November, 1963

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The original version goes as:

Dunia telah didandankan

Segala daun dan angin menyapa menoleh hanya
bersama kain-kain berkibar di tengah-tengah tiang
kerana mereka tidak bergetar oleh berita-berita besar
atas kehendak yang telah berlaku dan manusia segala terpaku.

Telah mereka saksikan sejak pertama cair merah tumpah
putera Adam membunuh-bunuh dalam pertarungan menangkalah
dan kematian demi kematian dinyanyikan di mana-mana
dan dilanjutkan sehinggal segala tanah jadi pusara.

berapa titiskah airmata untuk seorang yang pergi
sebelum keranda bertolah untuk nanti ditambah lagi
dibandingkan dengan hebatnya air terjun di Niagara
airmata putera-putera tercinta dan gadi-gadis menunggu di muka jendela
bersama kerutan pahit para ibu yang pernah menyusui
mendengar berita kematian ngeri dari daerah peperangan?

Jika menyesali kematian seorang
dan hati tidak berdenyut untuk kematian yang lain
maka kemanusiaan tidak ujud di mahkota kebenaran
sebab bukanlah kemanusiaan bila ia ada perbatasan

Dan sebarang tiap kota menangis dan mengucap kata
karena sewajarnyalah kemanusiaan itu berdenyut dan terasa
tapi tak seorangpun akan mengangis untuk pembunuhan yang bakal tiba
atau akan berkata: mari kita padamkan api sengketa
Siapa yang merasa dan kehilangan kesayangannya, menangislah
dunia telah didandankan; kehidupan adalah kematian berdarah.

"KEMANUSIAAN, (Kematian Kennedy)", Usman Awang, "DURI DAN API"
Kuala Lumpur, November, 1963

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Related Info

• Usman Awang
• Noam Chomsky: American Foreign Policy (Excerpts)

Attitude | To Have and/ or Not

"Selamat 'Aidil Adha"

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Related Info

UPDATE

• Pilgrims pray for Arab Spring states as hajj rituals peak
• To the Haj on foot



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• Recent pix of the Haj from Reuters/The Atlantic
• Dalia Mogahed: Who Speaks for Islam? [1:26:39]

Something old, something new, something neither

Last update - 09:28 17/09/2009
Virginia synagogue doubles as mosque for Ramadan
By The Associated Press

On Friday afternoons, the people coming to pray at this building take off their shoes, unfurl rugs to kneel on and pray in Arabic. The ones that come Friday evenings put on yarmulkes, light candles and pray in Hebrew.

The building is a synagogue on a tree-lined street in suburban Virginia, but for the past few weeks - during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - it has also been doubling daily as a mosque. Synagogue members suggested their building after hearing the Muslim congregation was looking to rent a place for overflow crowds.

"...this State of Israel ...this flawed political entity that speaks in the name of God...".

"People look to the Jewish-Muslim relationship as "conflict," said All Dulles Area Muslim Society Imam Mohamed Magid, saying it's usually disputes between the two groups in the Middle East that make news. "Here is a story that shatters the stereotype."

Magid, who grew up in Sudan, said he did not meet someone who was Jewish until after he had moved to the U.S. in his 20s, and he never imagined having such a close relationship with a rabbi. But he said the relationship with the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation has affected him and his members. Beyond being tolerant, the synagogue and its members have been welcoming.

He said one member of the mosque told him, "Next time I see a Jewish person I will not look at them the same."

Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk, who leads the Reform congregation of about 500 families, said the relationship works both ways.

More at the the Haaretz, Jerusalem.

# Video:
Jews United Against Zionism, United Nations, January 4, 2009

Protest organized by Neturei Karta International at UN headquarters in New York. Rabbi Weiss, who heads the group, talks with TRNS. www.viddler.com