29 December 2011

Pekan Frinjan 2012: Seni, aktivisme & fesyen

Salam tahun baru,

Syukur kepada Tuhan, Pekan Frinjan akan kembali pada tahun 2012 berkat sokongan dari Gen-S dan pihak pengurusan Kompleks Belia & Kebudayaan Selangor dan sedar tidak sedar, tahun 2012 merupakan tahun keempat siri Pekan Frinjan.

Pekan Frinjan 2012 akan dikendalikan sepenuhnya penggiat dan peminat seni generasi baru yang akan dikoordinasi Paan bersama teman-teman lainnya. Hal ini meneruskan usaha regenerasi dari masa ke semasa yang dilakukan Komuniti Frinjan selaras dengan perkembangan masa.

Pekan Frinjan bermula pada 1 Mac 2009 hasil cetusan idea Amri Rohayat yang kemudiannya digabungkan konsepnya bersama Alina Abdullah dan Zulhabri Supian.

Tentang Pekan Frinjan

Pekan Frinjan adalah acara bulanan yang mempersatukan muzik, puisi, teater, fesyen, aktivisme, buku dan macam-macam. Ringkasnya Pekan Frinjan adalah medan pertemuan seni, aktivisme dan fesyen.

Pekan Frinjan adalah salah satu inisiatif kelompok Frinjan bertujuan untuk membudayakan masyarakat. Ini dilakukan dengan membawa pelbagai aktiviti seni dan kebudayaan terus kepada masyarakat umum, khususnya di laman massa dan jalanan.

Dengan mempersembahkan seni dan budaya dalam bentuk “pop”, diharapkan masyarakat akan terus mahu mendekati bahan berteraskan intelektualisme. Ini penting dalam membentuk sebuah negara dan persekitaran bertamadun yang tidak hanya mementingkan pembangunan ekonomi semata-mata.

Tentang Frinjan

Frinjan adalah sebuah kolektif longgar pengkarya dan penikmat seni budaya, dan kata 'Frinjan' diambil dari perkataan Bahasa Inggeris, 'fringe'. Resondeternya ialah untuk menganjurkan aktiviti seni budaya bersifat semi-komersil dengan suntikan literari, pembudayaan masyarakat dan pengembangan sosial.

Frinjan berpendirian untuk memanfaatkan seni sebagai medium untuk menarik perhatian masyarakat terhadap isu-isu sosial politik yang berlaku, sering bekerjasama dengan badan bukan kerajaan, komuniti seni dan institusi pendidikan. Frinjan turut berhasrat untuk memanfaatkan seni sebagai medium pemerkasaan anak-anak muda untuk mendepani pemasalahan yang berlaku di mana-mana.

Tarikh-tarikh Pekan Frinjan 2012

Semua acara Pekan Frinjan pada 2012 berlangsung pada hari jumaat mulai jam 5 petang sehingga larut malam bertempat di Kompleks Belia & Kebudayaan Selangor di Seksyen 7, Shah Alam.

27 Januari
24 Februari
30 Mac
27 April
25 Mei
29 Jun
28 September
2 November
30 November
28 Disember

Untuk maklumat lanjut, sila hubungi:

012 204 4557 : Paan (Bazar dan pengkarya)
014 660 9066 : Fairuz (Pengurus Pentas)
012 664 8873 : Hadi ( Pasar Buku)

atau emel ke frinjan@gmail.com untuk pertanyaan tentang slot persembahan dan pertanyaan umum lainnya

untuk pertanyaan bazar, sila emel ke frinjanbazaar@gmail.com

Join Facebook Group kami bernama "http://www.facebook.com/frinjan"

http://frinjan.blogspot.com

Terima kasih :)

Gerakan mahasiswa - politik nilai atau politik kekuasaan?

Oleh Zulhabri Supian

Gerakan mahasiswa sebagai barisan ketiga di Malaysia? Persoalan ini sering dibangkitkan setiap kali berlabuh punggung di restoran mamak. Banyak yang merasa skeptikal dari yang merasa optimis dan ini tidak menghairankan kerana sejak adanya Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (AUKU) yang digubal oleh kerajaan Malaysia dan diperkenankan oleh raja pada 27 April 1971, gerakan mahasiswa malap sekali. Sebaliknya mahasiswa pasca-AUKU terutama yang mengaji di universiti awam sangat terkenal dengan kehebatan di medan peperiksaan dan kelemahan di dalam medan kehidupan sebenar.

Namun tanggal 17 Disember 2011 merubah skeptikal meninggi itu kepada sedikit harapan apabila Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) dan Gerakan Menuntut Kebebasan Akademik (BEBAS) bersama hampir 500 orang seperti yang diberitakan, majoritinya mahasiswa berarak ke ibu pejabat Umno di Kuala Lumpur bagi menuntut kebebasan akademik yang lebih besar di negara ini. Bantahan itu secara kebetulan serentak dengan perbincangan meja bulat Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (AUKU) yang dipengerusikan Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

Di dalam aksi bersejarah itu, SMM dan BEBAS menuntut pemansuhan AUKU dan Akta Institusi Pendidikan dan Akta Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Swasta yang didakwa mencabul hak asasi. Ia dibuat bersama tuntutan lain melibatkan kebebasan akademik di universiti, hak terlibat dalam politik dan autonomi mahasiswa di kampus. Tambah heboh adalah tindakan seorang maha siswa bernama Adam Adli Abdul Hamid yang telah menurunkan bendera Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yang kemudiannya memicu pandangan pro dan kontra masyarakat.

Sebelum itu, harus diketahui bahawa SMM ditubuhkan pada tahun 2001 dan mula bergiat cergas pada tahun 2003 dengan membawa isu-isu mahasiswa seperti contohnya pada 2008, SMM menampilkan alternatif undang-undang yang diberi nama ‘Magna Carta’. Undang-undang tersebut adalah cadangan mahasiswa yang SMM masukkan ke dalam setiap peti surat Ahli Parlimen dan mereka menuntut dimansuhkan Auku dan Magna Carta sebagai ganti. Jadi aksi 17 Disember tersebut merupakan kesinambungan terhadap seluruh kerja yang telah dilakukan mereka selama ini.

Namun tetap ada persoalan besar di sini iaitu adakah gerakan mahasiswa seperti ini akan berjaya menarik imaginasi majoriti mahasiswa seperti yang berlaku di Indonesia pada 1998? Mari kita semak apakah inti gerakan mahasiswa di sana?

Gerakan Mahasiswa Indonesia 1998 adalah kemuncak gerakan mahasiswa dan gerakan rakyat pro-demokrasi pada dekad 90an. Gerakan ini menjadi fenomena kerana dianggap berjaya memaksa Soeharto berundur dari Jabatan Presiden Republik Indonesia pada tanggal 21 Mei 1998. Meskipun salah satu agenda perjuangan mahasiswa menuntut jatuhnya Presiden tercapai, namun banyak yang menilai agenda reformasi yang dituntut mahasiswa belum tercapai atau malah gagal hingga kini. Tuntutan-tuntutan mereka adalah;

1- mengadili Soeharto dan kroni-kroninya
2- melaksanakan pindaan UUD 1945 (Perlembagaan Indonesia)
3- Penghapusan dwi fungsi ABRI (Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia)
4- pelaksanaan autonomi daerah yang seluas-luasnya
5- menegakkan kedaulatan undang-undang
6- menciptakan pemerintahan yang bersih dari kronisme, kolusi dan nepotisme

Meskipun gerakan mahasiswa di Indonesia semakin melemah akibat perampasan dan seterusnya pembelotan agenda mereka oleh ahli politik dengan kuda tunggangan mereka iaitu parti politik, Sondang Hutagalung telah menggemparkan Indonesia pada 7 Disember lalu dengan membakar dirinya di hadapan Istana Presiden di Jakarta Pusat dan kemudiannya meninggal dunia pada 10 Disember sebagai protes kepada pemerintahan Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) yang dianggap tidak memberi kebaikan kepada rakyat terbanyak. Soalnya sekarang adakah aksi mahasiswa undang-undang dari Universiti Bung Karno (UBK) itu akan memercik semula api kebangkitan gerakan mahasiwa melawan pemerintahan SBY dan seluruh parti politik di Indonesia? Kita tunggu dan lihat.

Gerakan politik nilai melawan gerakan politik kekuasaan

Meskipun begitu, ada suatu hal yang menarik dan elok dipelajari dan diaplikasikan gerakan mahasiswa di Malaysia dari saudara seberang kita. Seorang aktivis di Indonesia bernama Fadjroel Rahman pernah menulis bahawa gerakan mahasiswa di Indonesia membawa gerakan politik nilai kerena kepentingan pertama yang diperjuangkan mereka adalah nilai-nilai atau sistem nilai yang sifatnya universal seperti keadilan sosial, kebebasan, kemanusiaan, demokrasi dan solidariti kepada rakyat yang tertindas dan sangat waspada dengan gerakan politik kekuasaan yang menjadi ciri khas parti politik, dimana penetapan agenda dan matlamat politik mahupun pemilihan lawan dan kawan politik semata-mata sebagai urusan taktik dan strategi untuk memperkuat dan mengukuhkan posisi politiknya dalam percaturan merebut kekuasaan sekarang dan di masa depan.

Adalah sangat penting untuk gerakan mahasiswa di Malaysia tidak terjebak dengan kancah politik kekuasaan atau politik kepartian Barisan Nasional dan Pakatan Rakyat yang terlihat sangat menebal di dalam kampus terutama di kalangan aktivis mahasiswa. Meskipun tidak dapat dinafikan bahawa gerakan politik kekuasaan yang dibawa Pakatan Rakyat juga menjunjung tinggi politik nilai, hal ini tidak boleh dijadikan sandaran yang kuat untuk bersikap menyebelahi buta ke arah mereka. Lihat apa yang terjadi di negeri-negeri yang diperintah Pakatan Rakyat? adakah politik nilai dijunjung tinggi mereka? Meskipun masih di tahap baik, ciri-ciri khas Barisan Nasional semakin hari semakin terserlah di sana sini walau masih sukar mengatasi Barisan Nasional tatkala ini.

Tindakan SMM mengkritik kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat di Kedah berhubung isu KUIN wajar dipuji dan tindakan tidak memilih bulu seperti ini wajib dipertingkat supaya gerakan mahasiswa mempunyai kredibiliti yang tinggi di kalangan mahasiswa seMalaysia. Usah gentar dengan kecaman-kecaman dari parti-parti politik seandainya aktivis mahasiswa benar-benar serius membawa agenda mahasiswa dan masyarakat, lainlah kalau mereka sudah memasang niat menjadi calon wakil rakyat di atas kapasiti parti politik sedia ada. Harus ditegaskan bahawa pindaan atau pemansuhan AUKU sebenarnya ditakuti gerakan politik kekuasaan kerana hilangnya AUKU memungkinkan kembalinya gerakan politik mahasiswa berasaskan nilai yang sedia membungkam tidak kira siapa.

Sebagai penutup, ada satu hal yang penting untuk gerakan mahasiswa kembali hidup dan segar di Malaysia iaitu kepentingan mengembalikan gerakan mahasiswa seperti dekad 60an dan 70an yang tidak dimonopoli gerakan mahasiswa Islam dan Cina totok. Gerakan mahasiswa wajib lebih inklusif merangkul semua golongan baik mereka itu kaki clubbing, kaki main judi, kaki futsal, kaki EPL, kaki gig, kaki Topman/Uniqlo, kaki Redbox, kaki pergaulan bebas, kaki memancing, kaki cari bapok dan bermacam-macam jenis kaki lagi yang semuanya tidak menyukai teriakan takbir membabi buta apatah lagi menghadiri usrah yang membosankan. Ingat! sebuah gerakan mahasiswa yang suka menentang konsert hiburan (bukan ‘hiburan Islam’) di dalam kampus mahupun luar kampus pastinya akan gagal dan wajib selamanya digagalkan.

tulisan ini pertama kali tersiar di The Malaysian Insider pada 25 Disember 2011

28 December 2011

New Books from Gerakbudaya - Final Release for 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, we would like to thank all our friends and customers for your continuous support.

Happy New Year!

The following books are now available.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Author of the Risale-i Nur
Sukran Vahide
Publisher: Islamic Book Trust (IBT)
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9789675062865
515 Pages
RM60.00 /$42.00
This first full-length English biography of the great Turkish Muslim thinker and reformer Bediuzzaman Said Nursi is based on his own works and on accounts of those who have known or met him. It describes his life, works, and struggle, and places Bediuzzaman's ideas and activities in a historical context. It describes his enterprising and scholarly endeavours in the cause of the Ottoman Empire, particularly in the areas of education, constitutionalism, and Islamic unity. In the second part of the book, it traces both Bediuzzaman's silent struggle through his commentary of the Qur'an collectively known as Risale-i Nur, speaking out against the irreligion that was offically propagated in the early years of the Turkish Republic.

Poverty and Global Recession in Southeast Asia
Edited by Aris Ananta and Richard Barichello
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Year: 2012
ISBN: 9789814311199
432 Pages
RM125.00 /$49.90
Financial crises after financial crises have occurred, with widening impact and deepening severity. This book started with an objective to understandthe impact of high inflation on poverty in Southeast Asia. However, global inflation moved quickly into recession in 2008. Southeast was not an exception. The book then refocused the title to Poverty and Global Recession in Southeast Asia. It is a modest attempt to contribute a better understanding of poverty and food security in Southeast Asia during the 2008-09 global recession, considering both recent developments and the previous major crisis of 1997-98. The book may also help to anticipate some possible impacts of future global recession on food and poverty, not only in Southeast Asia, but also in many other countries in the world.

Portuguese and Luso-Asian Legacies in Southeast Asia, 1511-2011, Vol. 1: The Making of the Luso-Asian World Intricacies of Engagement
Edited by Laura Jarnagin
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9789814345255
323 Pages
RM150.00 /$59.90
In 1511, a Portuguese expedition under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque arrived on the shores of Malacca, taking control of the prosperous Malayan port-city after a swift military campaign. Portugal, a peripheral but then technologically advanced country in southwestern Europe since the latter fifteenth century, had been in the process of establishing solid outposts all along Asia’s littoral in order to participate in the most active and profitable maritime trading routes of the day. As it turned out, the Portuguese presence and influence in the Malayan Peninsula and elsewhere in continental and insular Asia expanded far beyond the sphere of commerce and extended over time well into the twenty-first century. Five hundred years later, a conference held in Singapore brought together a large group of scholars from widely different national, academic and disciplinary contexts, to analyse and discuss the intricate consequences of Portuguese interactions in Asia over the longue duree. The result of these discussions is a stimulating set of case studies that, as a rule, combine original archival and/or field research with innovative historiographical perspectives. Luso-Asian communities, real and imagined, and Luso-Asian heritage, material and symbolic, are studied with depth and insight. The range of thematic, chronological and geographic areas covered in these proceedings is truly remarkable, showing not only the extraordinary relevance of revisiting Luso-Asian interactions in the longer term, but also the surprising dynamism within an area of studies which seemed on the verge of exhaustion. After all, archives from all over the world, from Rio de Janeiro to London, from Lisbon to Rome, and from Goa to Macao, might still hold some secrets on the subject of Luso-Asian relations, when duly explored by resourceful scholars. – Rui M. Loureiro, Researcher Centre de Historia de Alem-Mar, Lisbon

Issues in Human Security in Asia
Edited by Yang Razali Kassim
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9789814345484
232 Pages
RM100.00 /$39.90
This volume focuses on the theme of Human Security – a phenomenon increasingly in the news in Asia. The issues revolve around the security of the individual more than the security of the state. They encompass some of the latest developments affecting or having implications for the well-being of the Asian individual since January 2010. Among them are Japan’s triple calamity, including the nuclear crisis in Fukushima; Wikileaks; the Arab uprisings; and the death of Osama bin Laden. Issues discussed range from climate change and natural disasters; energy security; health, food and water security to issues of internal challenges such as governance, politics and identity. The role of diplomacy in non-traditional security, as the larger conceptual framework within which human security resides, is also covered. This is the third volume of Strategic Currents, which publishes essays and commentaries first written for RSIS commentaries by scholars, academics and associates of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

Panama Climate News Updates (October 2011)
Publisher: Third World Network
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9789675412615
56 Pages
RM10.00 /$7.00
This is a collection of 18 News Updates prepared by the Third World Network for and during the recent United Nations Climate Change Talks - the third part of the 14th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the UN Fremework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC AWG-LCA 14), and the third part of the 16th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyota Protocol (AWG-KP 16) - in Panama City, Panama from 1 to 7 October 2011.

Standing in the Way of Development? A Critical Survey of the IMF's Crisis Response in Low-Income Countries
Elisa Van Waeyenberge, Hannah Bargawi & Terry McKinley
Publisher: Third World Network
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9789675412608
78 Pages
RM11.00 /$7.70
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been criticised for the rigid economic policy conditionalities attached to its lending programmes, says it now provides borrower states greater flexibility to adopt expansionary policies. Standing in the Way of Development? assesses this claim in the context of the IMF's central role in dealing with the effects of the global financial crisis in low-income countries (LICs). This paper evaluates the general macroeconomic policy scheme promoted by the Fund and closely examines the nature of its engagement during the crisis in a representative sample of 13 LICs. The authors find that, despite some relaxation of policy restraints, the IMF essentially remains wedded to its longstanding prioritisation of price stability and low fiscal deficits over other macroeconomic goals.

Such a policy stance, it is argued, could undermine not only LIC's prospects for a quick recovery from the crisis but also their longer-term development outlook. In light of this, this paper outlines the broad outlines the broad contours of an alternative macroeconomic policy framework geared towards supporting long-run equitable growth and poverty reduction.

The IMF's Financial Crisis Loans: No Change in Conditionalities
Bhumika Muchhala
Publisher: Third World Network
Year: 2011
ISBN: 9789675412592
20 Pages
RM7.00 /$4.90
During the global financial crisis of 2008-09, lending by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) surged as countries faced acute financing shortfalls amid the economic turmoil. However, as with most IMF credit over the years, these crisis loans came attached with contractionary policy conditionalities whose procyclical nature has long been a cause for concern. Examining the provisions in the official IMF loan documents, this paper finds that the IMF required borrowing countries to implement austerity measures in fiscal and monetary policy to attain "macroeconomic stability" or, in other words, low levels of deficit, inflation and external debt. Government budget deficits and inflation were to be brought down by cutting public spending and raising interest rates, among other measures such as regressive tax policies.
In light of concern over the adverse impacts of such austerity policies in a time of global downturn, this paper recommends a rethink of procyclical IMF loan conditionality. In the context of global crisis contagion, policy-setting international financial institutions should not be advocating budget cuts and interest rate hikes. Rather, expansionary, or Keynesian, macroeconomic policy should be supported in crisis-affected countries, such as fiscal stimulus and public spending measures to revive domestic economic activity, aid domestic firms and citizens severely affected by the crisis, promote employment creation and protect essential services in health, education and pension sectors. In addition to this policy reassessment, the paper also calls for reform in IMF governance, such as tranparency in the formulation and distribution of IMF policy reports and fair representation and voice for developing countries in the Fund's decision-making.

To purchase these and/or any other Gerakbudaya/SIRD titles, you may:

a) Drop by our showroom at the following address:
No. 11, Lorong 11/4E
46200 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7957 8343/8342
Fax: (603) 7954 9202

b) Buy it online at bookshop.gerakbudaya.com or bookshop.gbgerakbudaya.com

c) Send us an email at sird@streamyx.com or gerakbudaya@pd.jaring.my

d) Get it from all major bookstores throughout Malaysia

Thank you for your kind interest and support

20 December 2011

Efek Rumah Kaca Malaysia Tour 2011 has been rescheduled

Efek Rumah Kaca Malaysia Tour 2011 has been rescheduled

Kuala Lumpur, 20 December 2011 – The organisers regret to inform you that 'Efek Rumah Kaca Malaysia Tour 2011' concert originally scheduled on Saturday, 24 December 2011 at Map KL @ Publika Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur & on Sunday, 25 December 2011 at Soundmaker Studio, Penang has been postponed to a future date, to be announced later.

The organisers sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. Fans whom have purchased tickets but can’t wait for the announcement of the new date, may proceed to refund. For more details on ticket refund, please email us at frinjangig@gmail.com.

Thank you



Frinjan presents

Efek Rumah Kaca Malaysia Tour 2011

https://www.facebook.com/events/286030501432309/

Kuala Lumpur

Supporting acts by Pesawat & Azmyl Yunor

Date: 24th December 2011, Saturday
Time: 8pm
Venue: Black Box, MAP @ Publika, Solaris Dutamas
Admission: RM30 presale, RM40 at door

RSVP at : frinjangig@gmail.com (SUBJECT : ERK KL)

Do note to attach these details :-

1. Full name
2. IC number
3. Phone number

We will reply with the payment details. :)
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Penang

Date: 25th December 2011, Sunday
Time: 5pm
Venue: Soundmaker Studio, Penang
Admission: RM20

Supporting acts by Waduh Waduh & Marble

contact Rozaimin at 012 436 6652 for further details
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Introducing the indie band Efek Rumah Kaca of Jakarta fame, a band renowned for their socio-political or ‘sospol’ approach of addressing social issues, non-partisan politics as well as environmental issues through sweet pop melody and easy to swallow poetic lyrics, thanks to Cholil, the band’s frontman.

Global warming effect is no longer empty talks but it is now a reality presented upon us challenging the very existence of us indeed.
Freedom of varying form suffers similar fate. Political freedom, media and communication freedom as well as music freedom are usually subjected to aggression on the grounds of morality, public order and many more.

On the lighter notes, let’s give our ear a treat of subtle and melodious aural assault and immerse your mind into the depth of the lyrics at your own pace. For you are not required to subscribe to the dogma. But if you do, you’ve certainly contribute something towards a better Earth for everyone.

http://www.myspace.com/efekrumahkaca
http://www.facebook.com/efekrumahkaca

Thank you :)