Net porn block on EVERY home: Victory for the Mail as PM pledges 'opt in' rule for all web users

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372833/Net-porn-block-EVERY-home-Victory-Mail-PM-pledges-opt-rule-web-users.html
JAMES CHAPMAN

• PM will today warn that internet pornography is 'corroding childhood'
• All internet-connected homes will be asked whether they want filters
• And all new subscribers will have to opt out if they want obscene material
• Porn simulating rape will also be banned under new legislation

Every householder connected to the internet will have their access to online porn blocked unless they ask to receive it.

In a victory for the Daily Mail, David Cameron will announce the move today among a series of measures cracking down on against the tide of web sleaze.

The Prime Minister will warn that internet pornography – much of it easily accessible to youngsters – is ‘corroding childhood’.

Victory for the Mail: Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured last week, will today announce new rules requiring every internet connection to have porn blocked unless subscribers 'opt in' to obscene content

By the end of next year, all 19million UK homes currently connected to the net will be contacted by service providers and told they must say whether family-friendly filters that block all porn sites should be switched on or off.

From the end of this year, all new customers setting up a broadband account or switching provider will have the filters automatically switched on unless they opt to disable them to allow sites with ‘adult content’.

‘The Daily Mail has campaigned hard to make internet search engine filters “default on”. Today they can declare that campaign a success,’ Mr Cameron said.

‘We are taking action to help clean up the internet and protect a generation of children from often extreme online pornography.’

'The Daily Mail has campaigned hard to make internet search engine filters “default on”. Today they can declare that campaign a success'

 David Cameron, Prime Minister

Other measures being announced by Mr Cameron today include adult content filters on all new mobile phones, a bar on accessing adult content through public wi-fi and calling in Ofcom to regulate industry progress. Internet giants such as Google will be told they have a ‘moral duty’ to do more to stop child abuse images being accessed.

Pornography involving simulated rape will be banned both online and offline, and online videos will be subject to the same rules as those sold in sex shops.

There will be stronger powers for watchdogs to investigate the ‘hidden internet’ – heavily encrypted forums and pages that allow abusers to cover their tracks

There has been growing alarm at evidence that a third of children have accessed online pornography by the time they reach ten. Six in ten parents now say they are worried or very worried about their sons and daughters seeing violent and sexual material on the web.

In his landmark speech at the NSPCC, Mr Cameron will say action is more urgent than ever because web access has ‘changed profoundly’ in recent years.

‘Not long ago, access to the internet was mainly restricted to the PC in the corner of the living room, with a beeping dial-up modem, downstairs in the house where parents could keep an eye on things,’ he will say.

Today, there is material freely available that is a ‘direct danger to our children’.

The Prime Minister will add: ‘I’m not making this speech because I want to moralise or scaremonger, but because I feel profoundly as a politician, and as a father, that the time for action has come. This is, quite simply, about how we protect our children and their innocence.’

Mr Cameron will announce that in future deciding about family-friendly filters will be a required part of the set-up process for installing an internet connection.

When existing web users are contacted, family-friendly filters will be pre-selected. Only an adult will be able to change the filter settings and the account holder will receive a confirmation email. Some ISPs are offering text alerts, in case children hack into the account.

Any adult ignoring the alerts will have filters installed automatically.

‘By the end of this year, when someone sets up a new broadband account the settings to install family-friendly filters will be automatically selected. If you just click “next” or “enter”, then the filters are automatically on,’ Mr Cameron will say.

‘And, in a really big step forward, all the ISPs have rewired their technology so that once your filters are installed, they will cover any device connected to your home internet account.

‘No more hassle of downloading filters for every device, just one click protection. One click to protect your whole home and keep your children safe.

‘Once those filters are installed, it should not be the case that technically literate children can just flick the filters off at the click of a mouse without anyone knowing. So we have agreed with industry that those filters can only be changed by the account holder, who has to be an adult. So an adult has to be engaged in the decisions.

‘But of course, all this just deals with the flow of new customers – those switching service providers or buying an internet connection for the first time. It does not deal with the huge stock of existing customers – almost 19million households. So this is now where we need to set our sights.

‘Following the work we’ve already done with the service providers, they have now agreed to take a big step.

‘By the end of next year, they will have contacted all of their existing customers and presented them with an unavoidable decision about whether or not to install family friendly content filters. TalkTalk, who have shown great leadership on this, have already started.

‘We are not prescribing how the ISPs should contact their customers – it’s up to them to find their own technological solutions. But however they do it, there will be no escaping this decision.

‘And they will ensure it is an adult making the choice.’ 

‘I’m asking Ofcom, the industry regulator, to oversee this work. If they find that we are not protecting children effectively, I will not hesitate to take further action.’ 

Mr Cameron will announce further measures to tackle extreme pornography, which depicts violence against women, including simulated rape.

‘These images normalise sexual violence against women – and they are quite simply poisonous to the young people who see them.

“The legal situation is that although it’s been a crime to publish pornographic portrayals of rape for decades, existing legislation does not cover possession of this material – at least in England and Wales.

‘Well I can tell you today we are changing that. We are closing the loophole – making it a criminal offence to possess internet pornography that depicts rape.

‘And we are doing something else to make sure that the same rules apply online as they do offline. There are some examples of extreme pornography that are so bad that you can’t even buy this material in a licensed sex shop. And today I can announce we will be legislating so that videos streamed online in the UK are subject to the same rules as those sold in shops.

‘Put simply – what you can’t get in a shop, you will no longer be able to get online.'

Holly Dustin, of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said:

'We are delighted that David Cameron has responded to the call by experts and women’s groups to ban pornographic images of rape that promote and eroticise violence against women. 

'The Coalition Government has pledged to prevent abuse of women and girls, so tackling a culture that glorifies abuse is critical for achieving this. 

'The next step is working with experts to ensure careful drafting of the law and proper resourcing to ensure the law is enforced fully.'

The little girls whose killers viewed child porn on the web

Google and other internet firms have a ‘moral duty’ to do more to rid the internet of child abuse images, David Cameron will say.

Search engines should block any results for a ‘blacklist’ of terms compiled by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop). Porn users trying to access images of children should also be confronted with a warning telling them they risk losing their jobs or access to their family, the Prime Minister says.

Web firms have come under scrutiny in recent months following the convictions of Mark Bridger for murdering five-year-old April Jones and Stuart Hazell for murdering 12-year-old Tia Sharp. Both men had visited child abuse sites before the attacks.

The Government has been involved in lengthy negotiations with technology firms over the best way to crack down on child abuse.

Service providers have agreed to introduce ‘splash pages’ which tell people if they are attempting to view illegal images.

The Prime Minister will insist firms should go further, with a warning of consequences ‘such as losing their job, their family, even access to their children’.

Mr Cameron will dismiss arguments from some in the industry that it is impossible to design more effective filters to stamp out vile images. 

‘There are some searches which are so abhorrent and where there can be no doubt whatsoever about the sick and malevolent intent of the searcher that there should be no search results returned at all,’ he will say, adding that he wants a response by October.

‘I have a very clear message for Google, Bing, Yahoo! and the rest. You have a duty to act on this – and it is a moral duty.

‘We are already looking at the legislative options we have. This is quite simply about obliterating this disgusting material from the net – and we will do whatever it takes.’ 

In a statement, Google said: ‘We have a zero tolerance attitude to child sexual abuse imagery. Whenever we discover it, we respond quickly to remove and report it.’

A stricken Allied bomber, the German ace sent to shoot it down and a truly awe inspiring story of wartime chivalry

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2370933/A-Higher-Call-A-stricken-Allied-bomber-German-ace-sent-shoot-truly-awe-inspiring-story-wartime-chivalry.html
TONY RENNELL

• Luftwaffe pilot Lt Franz Stigler refused to shoot down near-destroyed Allied bomber
• Instead he guided stricken pilot Lt Charlie Brown to safety
• A phone call led to a tearful reunion of the two World War II veterans

Incredible story: He was a real master of the skies, but Luftwaffe veteran Franz Stigler showed pity to an Allied bomber in its hour of need

The lone Allied bomber was a sitting duck. Holed all over by flak and bullets and down to a single good engine, it struggled simply to stay in the air over Germany, let alone make it the 300 miles back to England. 

The rear gunner’s body hung lifeless in his shattered turret, another gunner was unconscious and bleeding heavily, the rest of the ten-man crew battered, wounded and in shock. The nose cone had been blown out and a 200mph gale hurtled through the fuselage.

Somehow the pilot, 20-year-old Lt Charlie Brown, still clung to the controls — and the last vestiges of hope.

He had already performed miracles. Returning from a daylight bombing run to Bremen, he had manoeuvred the plane magnificently through a pack of Messerschmitt fighters, taken hit after hit, then spiralled five miles down through the air, belching smoke and flames, in an apparent death dive before somehow levelling her out less than 2,000ft from the ground.

If common sense prevailed, he would order everyone to bail out and leave the B-17 Flying Fortress to its fate. He and the crew would parachute to safety, prisoners of war but alive. But that would mean leaving an unconscious man behind to die alone, and Brown refused to do that.

Mercifully, though, he realised as he coaxed the massive plane along at 135mph, barely above its stalling speed, the German fighters had disappeared. They must have seen the bomber — part of the U.S. Air Force based in eastern England — plummeting to earth that day in December, 1943, and ticked off another kill before returning to base.

There was a faint chance, then, they might make it home after all, even though, as his flight engineer now reported after an inspection of the plane’s blood-spattered interior,  ‘we’re chewed to pieces, the hydraulics are bleeding, the left stabiliser is all but gone and there are holes in the fuselage big enough to climb through’.

In the distance, agonisingly close, Brown could see the German coastline, and ahead of that the North Sea and open skies back to England. Spirits rose — until a glance behind revealed a fast-moving speck, a lone Me109, getting bigger and bigger by the second, closing in.

In the cockpit of the German fighter, his guns primed, was Lt Franz Stigler, a Luftwaffe ace who needed one more kill to reach the 30 that would qualify him for a Knight’s Cross, the second highest of Germany’s Iron Cross awards for bravery.

Stigler, aged 28 and a veteran airman who had been flying since the start of the war, had been refuelling and reloading his guns on the ground when the lone B-17 had lumbered slowly overhead. 

Within minutes, he was fast-taxiing to the runway and up in the air to give chase, the precious Knight’s Cross now just a leather-gloved trigger-finger away.

What happened next was extraordinary in the annals of World War II — and told in a new book that offers a gleam of humanitarian light in the dark tragedy of that conflict.

As Stigler came up behind the bomber he could not believe its condition. How was it still flying? Nor, strangely, was there any gunfire from the stricken plane to try to ward him off. That was explained as, inching closer, he saw the slumped body of the rear gunner.

Veering alongside, he could see the other guns were out of action too, the radio room had been blown apart and the nose had gone. Even more startlingly, through the lattice work of bullet holes, he glimpsed members of the crew, huddled together, helping their wounded.

He could make out their ashen faces, their fear and their courage. His finger eased from the trigger. He just couldn’t do it, he realised.

He was an experienced fighter pilot. He’d fought the Allies in the skies over North Africa, Italy and now Germany. This bomber he was cruising alongside was just one plane out of the countless air armadas that had been pulverising his homeland night and day for three years, wiping out factories and cities, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

And yet . . .

Stigler saw himself as an honourable man, a knight of the skies — not an assassin. The first time he flew in combat was with a much admired officer of the old school, who told him, ‘You shoot at a machine, not a man. You score “victories”, not “kills”.

‘A man may be tempted to fight dirty to survive, but honour is everything. You follow the rules of war for you, not for your enemy. You fight by rules to keep your humanity. So you never shoot your enemy if he is floating down on a parachute. If I ever see you doing that, I will shoot you down myself.’

The message hardly chimed with the ruthless Nazi mentality that had gripped Germany and its armed forces under Hitler. Nor with a war being fought with such savagery on many fronts.

But it chimed with Stigler, who had never bought into Nazi philosophy or joined the party. He prided himself in fighting by this code. It never mattered more than here and now, flying side by side with a helpless enemy over northern Germany.

His Knight’s Cross could go hang. ‘I will not have this on my conscience for the rest of my life,’ he muttered to himself.

Aboard the American bomber, anxious and bewildered eyes swivelled towards the Messerschmitt, now positioned just above its right wing tip and matching its speed as if flying in formation. 

They could clearly see the pilot’s face, the whites of his eyes. What was the bastard up to? He must be toying with them. Why didn’t he just get it over and done with?

To their amazement, they saw the German waving frantically, mouthing words, making gestures. What was he trying to say? In his cockpit, Stigler was struggling with a dilemma. He was not content just to ease back and let the bomber escape. He was now determined to save it and the men on board. 

But he knew that before it crossed out of Germany it would come within range of anti-aircraft batteries lined up along the coast, which would blast it out of the sky.

Change course, he was trying to tell the enemy crew. Head eastwards to neutral Sweden, a 30-minute flight away, crash-land there and spend the rest of the war as internees but alive. But any words were lost in the roar of the bomber’s faltering engines, while in its front seat, Brown clung doggedly to the control column and ploughed on.

Stigler now took an even more momentous decision. He gambled that if the flak gunners down on the ground spotted his Messerschmitt side by side with the enemy bomber, they would hold fire. He held his course, prepared to risk being shot down himself.

The ploy worked. Not a shot was fired from the ground. But Stigler knew he now faced a different danger. There were witnesses to his actions. If word got back that he had helped an enemy bomber to escape, he faced a court martial and a firing squad for treason.

Back in the helpless B-17, the crew were confused as the Messerschmitt continued alongside. The ‘crazy’ German pilot was gesturing at them again. 

Stigler believed they had no chance of surviving all the way back to England. They would crash in the North Sea and drown. Sweden, go to Sweden, he was still frantically trying to tell them.

By now, the uncomprehending Brown had had enough of the German’s presence at his side. He thought the ‘son of a bitch’ was trying to shepherd him back to Germany. He ordered the one remaining gun turret to be swung towards the enemy fighter.

As the barrels turned in his direction, Stigler got the message. He had done all he could. He gave one last look, mouthed ‘Good luck’, saluted the Americans and peeled away.  Brown and his men made it back, on a wing and a prayer. As the crippled plane slipped below 1,000ft, they jettisoned everything weighty:radio, guns, even the spent cartridge cases on the floor. Still they dropped . . . 500ft, 400ft. There was nothing but sea ahead.

But they had pals around them now, American P-47 fighters, urging them on. At last they cleared the coast of England, just 250ft off  the ground, and aimed at the  first airfield.

The landing gear went down, so did the flaps (though only after being cranked by hand); at 50ft, Brown cut the one remaining engine and they sank on to the runway, careering along it before coasting to a breathless, almost  unbelievable halt. An exhausted Brown staggered out and for the first time took in the full extent of the damage to his plane. ‘It frightened me more than anything in the air did,’ he recalled. He had no idea how they had managed to survive.

But what also stuck in his mind was the mysterious Messerschmitt pilot and that final salute. For the first time he began to grasp what had happened — he and his plane had been helped to get away.

The real hero of the mission was that unknown Luftwaffe pilot. And that was what he told the intelligence officer who de-briefed him on the mission. He and his men owed their lives to a good German. 

It was not a message that his superiors wanted to hear, as they now made plain. What if other Allied airmen were inspired to believe there were merciful  Germans pilots out there, held back on the trigger themselves and lost their lives as a consequence?

Brown and his crew were ordered not to tell a soul. They must wipe from their minds any memory of that incredible ten minutes in the sky over Germany.

For more than 40 years, Brown kept the secret but he never forgot. Then, in 1985, and retired to Florida, he blurted the story out at a veterans’ reunion. ‘I still don’t know who that German was and why he let us go,’ he declared, determined now to find out.

Long and fruitless enquiries over the next five years eventually led him to the newsletter of an association of German fighter pilots. He wrote his story there and waited for the remotest possibility of a response. ‘I thought there was more chance of winning the lottery than finding him alive,’ he said.
In Vancouver, where he had lived for 37 years, Franz Stigler opened his regular association newsletter, and could not believe his eyes. Here, out of the blue, was the missing piece in the jigsaw of his life.

After his encounter with the B-17, he had returned to base, half-expecting the Gestapo to be waiting. 

The Luftwaffe was always suspect in the eyes of the Nazis. Fighter pilots in particular faced scorn for failing to halt the Allied bombing raids, accused of cowardice and disloyalty, when in reality they were overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers.

Incredibly, his risk had paid off: there was no Gestapo welcoming committee.

But, increasingly disillusioned by what his country had turned into under Hitler, Stigler had lost any desire for the Knight’s Cross, so, though he was constantly in battle and flew close to 500 combat missions, he simply failed to register his ‘victories’ and claim what he now saw as a worthless piece of metal. 

He carried on fighting almost to the end, as the Third Reich collapsed in ruins around him.

In the aftermath, he struggled to survive. Ironically, he ended up working in a Messerschmitt  factory, now making sewing machines under U.S. direction rather than warplanes.

In 1953, he emigrated to Canada to work as a mechanic in a  logging camp. 

In time, he bought his own Messerschmitt and would fly in air shows as the ‘bad German’ being pursued by vintage American fighters. But the memory of that B-17 all those years ago stayed with him. Had it got home? Had the crew he had risked himself to save actually survived? He had no way of knowing.

Not, that is, until by chance he saw Charlie Brown’s story in the newsletter. The two old men spoke on the phone, then met up in an emotional reunion. They wept as they hugged each other and recounted their versions of what had happened in that magical ten minutes back in 1943. For the first time, it all made sense.

As Brown explained now that he knew the whole story: ‘I was too stupid to surrender, and Franz  Stigler was too much of a gentleman to destroy us.’

From then on until their deaths — Stigler in March 2008 and Brown eight months later — the two men travelled together to take their unique story to veterans’ clubs and air museums. ‘This was their last act of service to build a better world,’ writes author Adam Makos. ‘Their message was simple: enemies are better off as friends.’

Nor will the message stop. British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard and his producer son, Will, have acquired the film rights to Makos’s book. 

‘It’s going to be an epic,’ says Stoppard jnr. For those of us who have had the privilege of reading this inspiring book, it already is.

A HIGHER CALL by Adam Makos with Larry Alexander will be published by Atlantic Books 

Revolusi di Mesir: Musim Semi Arab Mundur ke Musim Dingin

http://www.gatra.com/kolom-dan-wawancara/34558-revolusi-di-mesir-musim-semi-arab-mundur-ke-musim-dingin.html

Jakarta, GATRAnews -  Secara kebetulan, dua kali saya berkunjung ke Mesir dan menyaksikan dari dekat perjalanan revolusi di sana. Baik revolusi jilid I, yang mereka sebut Revolusi 25 Januari 2011, maupun revolusi jilid II, yang mereka sebut Tamarrud, 30 Juni 2013. 

Pada revolusi yang pertama, saya ditugaskan oleh Presiden Yudhoyono sebagai utusan khusus pada puncak krisis, yaitu tanggal 6-10 Februari 2011, guna menyampaikan keprihatinan Indonesia. Kita melihat, akar masalah dari krisis Mesir itu sama dengan yang melahirkan reformasi di Indonesia. Kita ingin berbagi pengalaman. 

Dalam perjalanan pulang dari Maroko menghadiri simposium yang bertemakan "Arab Spring as Viewed by the Arabs and Others", saya singgah di Kairo, pada 1-3 Juli. Keperluan utamanya adalah menyaksikan penandatanganan MoU antara The Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), yang berkedudukan di Bali, Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Liga Arab, dan American University di Kairo. 

Awal Musim Dingin di Musim Panas 

Revolusi jilid II, seperti halnya yang pertama, digerakkan oleh orang-orang muda yang tidak puas terhadap pemerintah. Kali ini, Ikhwanul Muslimin menuai hujatan rakyat. Simpati yang besar kepada Ikhwanul pada revolusi jilid I merupakan simpati terhadap korban yang selama 60 tahun dilarang untuk hidup, baik oleh pemerintahan Presiden Naser (1952) maupun Mubarak (2011). 

Satu tahun pemerintahan Muhammad Mursi, seperti diakuinya sendiri pada pidato 3 Juli dini hari, memang gagal untuk meningkatkan kesejahteraan rakyat. Di tengah harapan yang meningkat pada pemerintahan transisi demokratis, yang terjadi sebaliknya. Pengadaan gas dan bahan bakar tersendat, arus turis yang merosot tajam, dan pasar kerajinan tradisional yang sepi, serta pengangguran yang meningkat. 

Dengan mengibarkan bendera Mesir, rakyat menyatakan keberpihakannya pada kaum oposisi, yang sedang berdemonstrasi di Tahrir. Di bagian lain kota Kairo, pendukung Mursi berunjuk rasa mempertahankan legitimasi pemerintah. 

Walaupun memperoleh kemenangan tipis (51%) dalam pemilihan yang demokratis, pemerintahan Mursi gagal dalam memastikan bahwa democracy delivers, yaitu meningkatkan kesejahteraan rakyat. Karena itu, mitra koalisinya, yaitu kaum Salafi (Al-Nour Party), juga sudah mengambil jarak dengan pemerintahan Mursi. 

Pengalaman transisi Mesir bukanlah kejadian yang terisolasi, karena ini juga banyak terjadi di pemerintahan transisi lainnya. Tugas yang tidak mudah untuk merespons ekspektasi yang meningkat di satu pihak dan pemerintah transisi yang baru, dan seringkali tidak punya pengalaman dalam pemerintahan. 

Di samping kegagalan ekonomi, pemerintah Mursi juga cenderung mulai diktatorial. Menarik ungkapan surat kabar International Herald Tribune pada 4 Juli 2013, yang mengatakan bahwa sesungguhnya musuh utama Ikhwanul Muslimin adalah dirinya sendiri. 

Sikap dan Peran Politik Militer 

Bila gelombang demonstran jauh lebih besar, hal ini karena, pertama, ketidakpuasan atas kinerja pemerintahan Mursi cukup meluas. 

Kedua, setelah tumbangnya Mubarak, rakyat mulai menikmati kebebasan, termasuk untuk berdemonstrasi. 

Ketiga, tentara dan polisi masih merupakan instrumen rezim lama untuk menghadapi oposisi. 

Pada kali ini, tentara lebih bersimpati pada oposisi. Mungkin, untuk memperbaiki citranya yang buruk karena melindungi Mubarak. Sebagian polisi, yang dulu menjadi elemen represi, ikut berdemonstrasi menyertai oposisi. 

Dalam sejarah modern Mesir, militer diakui berperan besar dalam membela dan mempertahankan kedaulatan Mesir pada tiga perang besar dalam 25 tahun. Pada perang Yom Kippur 1973, tentara Mesir berhasil merestorasi kedaulatan dan kebanggaan Mesir. De facto, tentara merupakan pemain politik yang penting. 

Menanggapi gelombang demonstrasi 30 Juni, dengan menyerukan perlunya dialog dan rekonsiliasi Presiden Mursi dan pendukungnya dengan kelompok oposisi, tentara memberikan batas waktu dialog pada tanggal 2 Juli. 

Juga mengumumkan roadmap mengantisipasi kegagalan dialog. Yaitu, pembentukan pemerintahan transisi, pembekuan parlemen, dan revisi konstitusi. 

Dengan mengundurkan batas waktu sehari lagi menjadi 3 Juli, jelas tentara sudah berancang-ancang mengambil alih kekuasaan. 

Banyak pihak yang menyebutnya sebagai kudeta militer dan menyayangkan cara-cara yang tidak demokratis dalam mengganti pemerintah yang demokratis dan sebenarnya memiliki legalitas yang kuat. 

Guna mengurangi nuansa pengambilan alihan kekuasaan, militer sejak awal mengedepankan pembentukan pemerintah koalisi sipil dengan mengangkat Ketua Mahakamah Konstitusi sebagai acting president dan menempatkan El Baradei sebagai calon perdana menteri. 

Koalisi itu didukung oleh Syekh Besar Al-Azhar dan Paus Kristen Koptik. Koalisi ini didukung oleh kekuatan politik dari unsur-unsur sekuler Salafi (Al-Nour Party). Dalam proses konsultasi itu, kelompok Ikhwanul Muslimin dapat menerima diundurkannya Presiden Mursi tapi meminta agar mereka tetap beroperasi secara legal. 

Walaupun pada awalnya cukup lancar, kesulitan mulai terjadi karena Partai Al-Nour menolak El-Baradei. Terlepas dari kehadiran Imam Besar Al-Azhar, kelompok Salafi merupakan satu-satunya kekuatan politik Islam dalam koalisi pemerintahan sementara. 

Tanpa keikutsertaannya, pemerintah transisi akan sepenuhnya tampak sebagai pemerintahan sekuler dan tentu tidak menguntungkan. 

Legitimasi dan Kehendak Rakyat 

Dalam pidatonya, Presiden Mursi banyak mengandalkan legitimasinya sebagai presiden terpilih lewat pemilu yang demokratis. Tidak ada yang dapat mengubah itu kecuali melalui cara yang demokratis. 

Toh, pemerintahan koalisi sementara tetap diwujudkan dan diumumkan oleh Jenderal Al-Sisi pada 4 Juli, persis ketika kami tiba dan transit di Doha. 

Tapi demokrasi bukan hanya pemilihan umum. Itu hanya demokrasi prosedural. Secara substantif, demokrasi adalah proses dialog yang berkelanjutan. 

Profesor Amartya Sen menyebutnya sebagai process of continuous dialogue for public reasoning on matters of public interest. Tentunya, proses dialog itu harus merangkul semua (inklusif) yang menjurus kepada kemufakatan (konsensus). Mungkin ini merupakan kekurangan yang menonjol dalam proses transisi demokratisasi di Mesir. 

Kaum Islamis, yang terdiri dari Islam moderat (Ikhwanul Muslimin), ultrakonservatif (Salafi), dan kaum ekstremis (Jemaah Islamiyah) yang keseluruhannya menguasai mayoritas kursi di parlemen (72%), merasa dapat melakukan apa saja tanpa proses yang inklusif, tidak banyak dialog, dan tidak mengabaikan kesepakatan bulat. 

Kinerja ekonomi kabinet Presiden Mursi yang buruk memang menjadi pemicu gerakan perlawanan rakyat. Tapi, cara Presiden Mursi menjalankan roda pemerintahan dan kebijakannya dalam perancangan konstitusi baru, dalam referendum pengesahan konstitusi, dan dalam pengangkatan gubernur, dilihat oleh rakyatnya tidak cukup dialogis, inklusif, dan mendapat dukungan luas, bahkan cenderung diktatorial. 

Ada yang mengatakan, ini akibat pencampuran agama dan politik. 

Dalam rangkaian workshop guna berbagi pengalaman di bawah dialog Indonesia-Mesir sejak 2011, kami mencermati kekurangan penting dan mendasar dalam proses transisi di Mesir. 

Pada seminar keempat di Serpong, Maret 2012, yang mengambil tema "Islam and Democracy, Syeikh Kamal el-Hibawy, tokoh dan anggota parlemen dari Ikhwanul Muslimin, menyatakan keheranannya mengenai sistem nilai dialog dan prakteknya dalam proses transisi demokrasi di Indonesia.

"Sebagai sesama negara mayoritas muslim, ajaran Islam yang kita anut sama. Tapi, di sini Anda mudah berdialog dan mencapai mufakat. Kami tidak biasa melakukan itu, bahkan antara kelompok yang berbeda yang hadir pada workshop ini pun kami belum pernah melakukan dialog di Mesir. Baru di sini, di Indonesia." El-Hibawy menjawab keheranan dan pertanyaannya itu sendiri. 

"Mungkin budaya Anda berbeda dari kami. Mungkin karena Anda memiliki Pan'kasila (maksudnya: Pancasila)." 

Merinding saya mendengar ungkapan itu. 

Revolusi jilid I, yang berlanjut ke jilid berikutnya, serta adanya ancaman perang saudara dan konflik internal yang berkepanjangan, adalah sebuah kemunduran. 

Musim semi (Arab Spring) yang menandai perlawanan rakyat di negara-negara arab terhadap rezim-rezim diktator, kini mengalami kemunduran dua langkah, melampaui musim gugur, kembali ke musim dingin yang kelabu dan menyuramkan. Sayang. 

(Dr. N. Hasan Wirajuda) 

Patron Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD) 

Morsy a victim of Egypt's revolution of the mind

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/11/world/meast/egypt-reporter-notebook-wedeman/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
Ben Wedeman, CNN



Cairo (CNN) -- From the rooftop of a mosque in the Cairo district of Nasr City, I watched as thousands of supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy frantically waved posters and chanted angrily.

Moments before they heard that the man who, just a year ago, had been declared Egypt's first ever democratically elected presidenthad been ousted.

The people who had jammed into Tahrir Square on June 30, 2012 to celebrate his inauguration were shocked and enraged.

When long-serving President Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power two and a half years ago, it was the beginning, not the end, of a revolution that has yet to run its course.

Prior to 2011, the presumption among many Egyptians and foreign observers alike was that the long-suffering people of Egypt had an almost bottomless reserve of patience, that as long as they could feed their families, they would put up with whoever was in power.

The uprising that banished Mubarak unleashed energy and a passion that shows no sign of diminishing. If Morsy thought his election victory a year ago, in which he won 51.7% of the vote, was a mandate, he was sorely mistaken.

But Morsy's head never lay steady atop the state. The police never trusted him -- nor did Christians. The army was suspicious and the business community dubious. Many voted for Morsy simply because they saw him as the lesser of two evils, running against former Mubarak stalwart Ahmed Shafiq.

One activist I spoke to, who only gave his name as Abdel Hadi, compared the two candidates during the presidential elections.

"You have two drugs," he told me. "One, Ahmed Shafiq kills you, and the other, Morsy, gives you a bad stomach ache. They're both bad, but Morsy's drug is light. It doesn't kill you. So we'll give Morsy four years. If he doesn't work out, we'll come back to Tahrir and bring him down."

Abdel Hadi's words, spoken in June 2012, were prophetic.

The night before the massive anti-Morsy demonstrations on June 30, in a packed Tahrir Square, I found people already convinced their president of just one year was soon to be history.

"He's out, he's over, he's finished," one man shouted to me.

"We've gone downhill all the way in that year, economically, security wise," said Abdal Rahman, a businessman. "It's over. They've split Egypt in two, Islamists and non-Islamists. We're all Muslims and we're all believers. Our conflict was a political conflict. They're switched it to a religious conflict."

Many Egyptians were deeply offended that Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood put their identity as Muslims before their identity as Egyptians. This is a country profoundly proud of its rich heritage, and quick to take offense at those who seem to disregard its place in history.

Last November, many were appalled when a Muslim radical, Morgan Al-Gohary, appeared on talk show on a private TV channel and declared if he and his ilk ever came to power they would destroy some of Egypt's most revered monuments. During the program, he claimed he took part in the demolition of Afghanistan's Bamiyan Buddha statues in March 2001.

The show's host, Wael Al-Abrashi asked, "So you would destroy the sphinx and the pyramids?"

Al-Gohary: "Yes, we will destroy them, if they were worshiped before or afterwards."

One guest, clearly repulsed, told Al-Gohary, "You don't know the history of your country well. The pharaohs were the first to know religion in the world." The Sphinx and the pyramids, he continued, "are mankind's heritage and not the property of the Egyptians alone, they are the property of all mankind."

Although neither Morsy, nor the Brotherhood, ever advocated such a course of action, many questioned their intentions and accused the Brotherhood of harboring barely concealed intent to turn Egypt into a Taliban-style Islamic state.

That was an intangible complaint. Others were more blatant. The economy withered under Morsy, as Egyptians suffered through frequent and prolonged power cuts and fumed in long lines outside petrol stations. Morsy's promises of prosperity and security never materialized. So the people mobilized.

The country's powerful army, responding to the millions in the street, forced Morsy from power on the evening of July 3.

But in the brave, new Egypt, no one gives up without a fight. The celebrations in Tahrir were mirrored by angry demonstrations outside Cairo Univeristy and in Nasr City

"No one is going to take our vote," a woman shouted to me in front of the university.

"These are legitimate elections," exclaimed her husband. "All the people have approved his legitimacy. He is our legitimate president. How can he [Defense Minister Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi] take this from us?"

Morsy's sudden transformation, from president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to prisoner, reminded me of something newspaper editor Hani Shukrallah had told me just one year before, on the eve of Morsy's victory.

Egyptians, he said, now "have a sense of their own rights. They have a sense of their personal dignity. They perceive themselves as citizens and this is something that is new for an old guy like me. They look at the state as their servant and not their master."

Morsy, their servant, did a bad job so they fired him.

The real revolution in Egypt is not in the streets. It's in the mind.

Want to 'decode' your teenage daughter? Don't try to be her friend, don't give her too much space, says top headmistress

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2360052/Parents-constantly-worry-weight-pressure-daughters-leading-headmistress-claims.html
BECKY EVANS

• Dr Helen Wright has written a guidebook for parents on how to bring up teenage girls
• Says the teen years are turbulent for girls - and parents
• Says be a good role model, help her deal with peer pressure, accept she will have mood swings
• Advises mothers to avoid fad diets and don't pressure girls to lose weight 
• Says parents who 'hide' their body tell daughters they should be 'ashamed' of their own

Parents who constantly diet are probably pressuring their teenage daughters to lose weight, a leading headmistress has said.

Dr Helen Wright, former president of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA), said mothers and fathers who worry about being overweight or are ashamed by their bodies are giving girls 'permission to do the same'.

She has written a handbook for bringing up teenage girls in which she tells parents they must tackle their 'own self-image head-on' or risk damaging their daughters. 

In the book she highlights the importance of giving teenage girls the space to grow - but says too much wiggle room is destructive. 

'They need time and space to do nothing - to just think and grow,' she says in an interview with the Times. 

But, she adds, they need boundaries to feel secure, to enable them to take small risks with the knowledge they have some structure in place to protect them. 

Dr Wright, who spent 20 years teaching in the UK before becoming a headteacher at an independent girls' school in Sydney, Australia, has published a book called Decoding Your 21st Century Daughter: The Anxious Parent's Guide to Raising A Teenage Girl.

The mother of two daughters and a son told The Times: 'If you hide your body from [your daughter], you are in effect telling her she should be ashamed of her own.

'Similarly, if you judge people on their appearance in her hearing, you will be showing her that you are judging her critically on her appearance.'

This month a study found children as young as 10 are unhappy with their weight and want to shed pounds.

Nearly two-thirds of 14 and 15-year-old girls (those in Year 10) saying they would like to be slimmer, according to a report by the Schools Health Education Unit (SHEU).

More than a third (37 per cent) of 10 and 11-year-old girls - those in the final year of primary school (Year 6) - say they would like to be slimmer, the survey found.

Dr Wright's book is billed as a collection of 'checklists' for what parents needs to know and do to help daughters through issues surrounding friendships, self-image, sexuality, drink and drugs and external pressures.

The outspoken teacher has previously accused parents who allow young girls to wear make-up or dress provocatively of now knowing right from wrong.

During her time as GSA president she said: 'If parents can't see anything wrong in dressing up their children in "Future WAG" T-shirts and letting them wear make-up, high heels and "mini-me" sexy clothing, then something is intensely wrong with our society.'

She has also previously called for GCSEs to be scrapped and said social networking causes a generation of mean girls.

In her book she says sexualised imagery in the media is 'dangerous' for growing girls.

She said parents should speak to their daughters about negative portrayals of women. 

HELPING YOUR DAUGHTER THROUGH HER TURBULENT TEENS

Give your daughter space - but not too much. Children need time and space to do nothing - to think and grow, she says - but adds that while they should be allowed to takes small risks to foster independence, they need boundaries to feel secure.

Be a good role model. Don't be judgemental about the appearance of others - she will assume you are doing the same about her. Work on your own self-image if necessary.

Encourage a healthy body image. Eating disorders are one of the most common problems to hit teenage girls. Don't fad diet - it will put pressure on your daughter to do the same.

Accept your teenager will have mood swings. Their minds are developing and they don't have as much control over their emotions as an adult might. That comes later. Their brains are wired to react quickly and intensively, making for some highly charged emotions.

Indonesia Mengharapkan Jokowi Sekarang

http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2013/07/10/1018464/Indonesia.Mengharapkan.Jokowi.Sekarang
L Sastra Wijaya

Judul di atas terkesan bombastis dan mungkin seperti mendewakan Jokowi. Seolah-olah Jokowi adalah juru selamat. Tapi saya memang mendukung Jokowi untuk menjadi Presiden RI berikutnya, bukan karena warga asal Solo ini akan bisa menyelesaikan seluruh masalah Indonesia ke depan. Tetapi Jokowi akan membawa feel good factor bagi masyarakat Indonesia, seperti yang sudah mulai dirasakan masyarakat Jakarta sekarang dan sudah betul-betul dirasakan warga Solo selama tujuh tahun sebelumnya.

Saya tidak mengenal dekat Jokowi, tidak juga mendukung dia ketika menjadi Gubernur Jakarta, dan hanya pernah samar-samar mendengar prestasinya di Solo. Namun, menyimak pemberitaan dalam setahun terakhir mengenai apa yang dilakukannya di Jakarta dan melihat konteks politik Indonesia saat ini, saya kok diyakinkan bahwa Jokowi dibutuhkan Indonesia untuk memimpin di tahun 2014.

Inilah beberapa alasan mengapa Jokowi, dalam pandangan dari jauh saya, calon terbaik di antara para calon yang dimiliki Indonesia saat ini:

1. Media Darling

Kata "media darling" entah mengapa menjadi kata yang berkonotasi negatif yang digunakan oleh beberapa pihak untuk mencoba mengurangi kepopuleran Jokowi. Menurut saya, populernya Jokowi di kalangan media bukan sebab, tetapi akibat.  Jadi bukan disebabkan karena Jokowi begitu populernya (entah karena ganteng, suka memberi hadiah, dan lainnya) di kalangan wartawan, maka dia kemudian mendapatkan pemberitaan. Namun, karena begitu banyaknya hal yang dilakukan dan dihasilkan oleh Jokowi sehingga media tidak bosan-bosan memberikan ruang pemberitaan baginya.

Ada yang beranggapan bahwa menjadi media darling itu bisa "direkayasa" dan bisa menurun sejalan dengan waktu. Penurunan bisa terjadi, tetapi rekayasa dalam pandangan saya melihat situasi industri media di Indonesia saat ini dan juga pesatnya media sosial sekarang, tidak mungkin dilakukan dengan mudah. Jadi menjadi media darling harus dianggap sebagai hal yang positif, sebagai pencapaian, bukan hadiah.

Lihat saja bagaimana "serangan balik" yang diterima oleh anggota DPRD DKI ketika mereka berusaha mengajukan interpelasi terhadap Jokowi. Media maupun masyarakat luas memiliki "kuasa" lebih besar sekarang ini untuk bisa mengkaji mana yang masuk akal, mengada-ada atau yang negatif.

Media darling tidak mudah diciptakan begitu saja. Ini bisa dilihat dengan mudah dari para pejabat lain, baik yang disebut menguasai media maupun mereka yang menjadi pusat pemberitaan.

Mengapa, misalnya, pemberitaan mengenai Partai Demokrat, Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar, Presiden SBY, Wiranto, Prabowo tidak selalu positif? Mengapa mereka tidak menjadi media darling? Karena apa yang mereka lakukan mendapat filter lagi di media, yang tidak akan memberitakan sesuatu yang buruk, dan di balik menjadi baik begitu saja.

2. Para Kandidat Lain

Sebagian opini sekarang yang tidak mendukung pencalonan Jokowi menjadi presiden 2014, menghendaki agar dia berkonsentrasi dulu dalam menyelesaikan masalah Jakarta. Alasan yang bisa diterima dan dalam situasi yang normal, menurut saya, seharusnya itulah yang terjadi. Dengan demikian, jenjang karier Jokowi tampak teratur mulai dari Wali Kota Solo (2005), Gubernur DKI (2012), dan mungkin presiden RI (2019).

Namun, situasi tidak selalu mengikuti kurva normal. Menurut pandangan saya, justru Indonesia membutuhkan Jokowi sekarang karena para kandidat lain tidak ada yang lebih baik, bila tidak dikatakan lebih buruk. Rata-rata para kandidat yang sudah disebutkan sekarang, seperti Wiranto, Prabowo, Aburizal Bakrie, Jusuf Kalla, Megawati Sukarnoputri masing-masing memiliki kelemahan dari masa lalu.

Kalau di antara Wiranto, Prabowo, dan Aburizal Bakrie terpilih, salah satu di antara mereka akan "disibukkan" untuk menjawab pertanyaan dari masa lalu yang belum tuntas. Jusuf Kalla tidak lagi memiliki tunggangan politik memadai. Adapun Megawati walau memiliki kuasa untuk menjadi "king maker" di PDI-P, tidak lagi berpotensi menjadi raja itu sendiri.

Ada berbagai nama lain disebutkan Mahfoed MD, Gita Wiryawan, Pramono Edhie, Hatta Rajasa, Farhat Abbas, Rhoma Irama, Soerya Paloh, Jumhur Hidayat, Sri Mulyani, berapa banyakkah yang percaya mereka memiliki peluang untuk menjadi RI-1 berikutnya?  Peluang mereka paling-paling adalah menjadi R1-2.

3. Prestasi Jokowi selama menjadi Gubernur DKI

Sebagian kalangan mencoba menggunakan alasan bahwa Jokowi belum berbuat banyak sebagai Gubernur DKI Jaya dalam setahun terakhir dan karenanya tidak layak menjadi RI-1.

Pertanyaan yang sama dengan mudah dialamatkan kepada para calon lain, apa yang mereka perbuat selama setahun terakhir yang bisa diingat dengan jelas oleh rakyat? Apa yang diperbuat oleh Prabowo, Wiranto, Aburizal Bakrie, Megawati, Jusuf Kalla dalam setahun terakhir yang bisa Anda ingat? Anda pasti kesusahan untuk memberikan satu contoh nyata.

Jokowi justru memiliki platform yang bagus untuk menempatkan namanya dalam benak publik dalam kapasitasnya sebagai Gubernur DKI. Walau kecil, tetapi berbagai upaya yang dilakukannya untuk mengurangi banjir (pembersihan waduk, penyelesaian pemukiman kumuh), meningkatkan kesehatan penduduk (KJS), memperbaiki transportasi (pembangunan monorel dan MRT), memberikan penghiburan (berbagai acara kesenian di Monas), mulai menampakkan hasil.

Ini tentu belum cukup dan barangkali belum memadai untuk menyelesaikan masalah Jakarta. Namun, Jokowi membawa hal lebih besar tampaknya, yaitu harapan.

Banyak warga Jakarta sebenarnya dalam keadaan "egois" sekarang karena mereka mengharapkan Jokowi menyelesaikan masalah di Ibu Kota dulu sebelum melanjutkan tugas lebih besar. Harapan yang wajar.

Namun, dalam pandangan saya, bila Jokowi menjadi presiden, dia masih bisa tetap memperhatikan masalah Jakarta dengan memasukkannya dalam kebijakan untuk seluruh Indonesia. Masalah di Jakarta sebenarnya bukan masalah unik kota ini sendiri, sebagian besar adalah masalah yang terjadi juga di kota-kota lain di Indonesia.

4. Jokowi Bukan Juru Selamat

Bila Jokowi menjadi RI-1 berikutnya, akankah dia mampu menyelesaikan masalah Indonesia? Tidak ada jaminan untuk itu. Namun secara pribadi, menurut saya, saat ini, Indonesia tidak dalam keadaan terpuruk, artinya Indonesia tidaklah perlu diselamatkan.

Indonesia hanya memerlukan pemimpin baru dengan ide-ide baru untuk membawa negeri ini melakukan akselerasi lebih cepat lagi ke tingkat dunia. Indonesia dalam delapan tahun terakhir di bawah pemerintahan Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tidaklah buruk. Di kalangan kelas menengah, mungkin banyak yang tidak puas dengan kinerja SBY. Namun, kalau kita kaji lebih mendalam, ini bukan disebabkan karena keadaan menuju ke arah yang negatif.

Dalam berbagai takaran internasional, Indonesia kalau tidak dikatakan sangat oke, ya paling tidak stabil. Yang menjadi masalah, menurut saya, bahwa rakyat banyak (baca: kelas menengah) mengharapkan lebih dari sekadar oke yang dulunya harapan besar itu mereka taruh pada sosok SBY.

Ketika SBY kemudian tidak banyak mengambil keputusan strategis (seperti sebuah tulisan yang mengatakan dalam 10 tahun, SBY hanya membuat 2 keputusan penting, sementara Gus Dur ketika menjadi presiden membuat 10 keputusan penting dalam 2 tahun), muncul istilah "negara autopilot", negara yang berjalan sendiri.

Mungkin banyak negara lain iri bahwa dengan keadaan autopilot saja pertumbuhan ekonomi masih di atas 5 persen per tahun. Yang terjadi dengan pemerintahan SBY adalah ketidakmampuan jajaran pemerintahan mengelola harapan dengan baik (managing expectation).

Harapan besar yang disuarakan oleh publik dibiarkan membumbung tinggi. Ketika kemudian harapan itu tidak terwujud, maka kekecewaan yang muncul lebih besar. Dalam hal ini, Jokowi kembali membawa harapan baru tersebut. Namun, dengan gayanya yang sederhana, yang selalu merendah, Jokowi menurut saya paling tidak membawa harapan bahwa dalam lima tahun ke depan, Indonesia akan mengalami "hal yang berbeda" dengan masa-masa sebelumnya. Sudah ada yang menyamakan dengan keadaan Amerika Serikat sebelum Barack Obama terpilih.

Mungkin juga kita melihat ke negeri lain seperti Venezuela dan Iran ketika mereka mendapatkan Hugo Chavez dan Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Ketiga tokoh ini membawa suka cita baru di kalangan rakyat mereka.

5. Apa yang akan dilakukan oleh Jokowi sekarang?

Berbagai jajak pendapat sekarang ini menempatkan Jokowi di urutan teratas atau di bagian atas calon presiden yang dikehendaki oleh rakyat Indonesia sekarang ini. Pemilihan umum masih setahun lagi dan setahun adalah waktu yang lama dalam kehidupan politik. Banyak hal bisa terjadi.

Kalau saya adalah tim sukses Jokowi, maka saya akan menyarankan agar dia menunggu sampai saat-saat terakhir sebelum memutuskan untuk mencalonkan diri atau tidak. Media berulangkali mengungkapkan bahwa keputusan akhir pencalonan dari PDI-P ada di tangan Megawati Sukarnoputri. Namun, bila popularitas Jokowi sampai tahun depan terus menjulang dan faktor Jokowi diusung di pemilu dan mungkin membawa hasil bagus, maka Megawati tidak akan memiliki pilihan lain.

Jadi strategi terbaik sekarang adalah menunggu sambil bekerja. Jokowi memiliki platform sebagai Gubernur DKI untuk menunjukkan kinerjanya, hal yang tidak dimiliki oleh sebagian besar calon lain.

L Sastra Wijaya, pernah bekerja di harian Kompas di Jakarta dan di Radio BBC Siaran Indonesia di London, sekarang tinggal di Adelaide (Australia).