Study in the US: It's been going on without Dream...

Notes For My Daugther On Her First Birthday

Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wbr.

My dearest daughter,

Although I know that you haven’t been able to read, and I realize that I’m far away from you, I personally write this letter for you. Today, on January 5th, I want you to know that I’m so proud to be a daddy for a one year old child, I miss you nak and I love you so much. These are the only words that I want you to know, now or some day, by the time you could read.

The Fall term has passed, I cannot see the colorful leaves and foliage anymore. I believe, if you were here, those stunning leaves must be interesting for you as your bunda said that you really enjoy staring out of the window leaves swaying on the trees. 

Now, it is winter break, it's icy and freezing outside, I don’t go to campus and I am out of reading, paper, research and many others kind of assignments. I found they were all challenging and hard since my English still needs to be upgraded. However, I could say that the current result is not too bad. In this holiday season, I have taken my time for refreshing, though if you were here, it must be more enjoyable, and now I’m thinking of doing my first paper, it’s not a difficult one as the others which my professors assign them to me, just a piece of letter for you.

I’ve just coming from NYC for a short trip. It was a snowy trip since snow fell on the day before the day I left. Mashallah nak, I was really exited looking at the white landscape along the way from Boston to New York covered by snowflakes, the white houses, trees, and hills. Suddenly, on my way in the Fung Wah bus from the South Station of Boston, I got a reminder from your bunda for our 2nd anniversary, it was actually too early, still 3 days afterwards, thanks Bunda, and it eventually reminded me that your first year will be coming soon. 

Back home from NYC, I spared my time to write this letter and at the same time, hopefully, it will make me not to get shocked for the next papers assignments in the upcoming term. I have a lot of stories about NYC, I visited the NYSE in Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Central Park, the Empire State Building, the MoMA, the National 9/11 Memorial, and many others that I could tell you later. The impact of current Super Storm Sandy has repealed me to visit the Statue of Liberty. But, the massacre in Sandy Hook Elementery School in Connecticut didn’t diminish the excitement of happy new year eve at the Times Square in Manhattan. May Allah always protects you and all of children around the world of such disaster.

The Spring Term will be started next week and it will be another one term for me living without you and your bunda. I have to enjoy wrestling with many campus assignments, fighting the extreme cold weather as well as homesickness. It’s really hard, but thanks to the Skype, so I’m still able to see you growing, dancing, singing, clapping hands, crying, watching your little fingers, small steps, and tiny teeth. 


Really, I see that you have grown and changed so much. And, I’m so happy seeing you pointing out your bunda’s laptop when you are asked about ayah, it’s so funny. The other funny thing is your shout when listening to the song ‘balonku’ or ‘cicak di dinding’, although my difficulty in memorizing those songs often disrupts your expression.  I’m also astonished watching you drawing and identifying parts of your body. And, I will always wait for your perfect smile on the screen of my laptop when I’m studying. 

Have a nice and lovely 1st year my little ones! This must be my thankful day instead of just a birthday celebration, there will be no party or a very special gift, thanks to Allah and your bunda who always take care of and love you. Here, I present this letter for your 1st year as well as a preparation for the Spring term and waking up this sleepy blog. I feel so sad knowing you got fever 2 days ago. May years ahead will be an amazing journey for you in learning, exploring, and having fun. And, may Allah always takes care of you, keeps you healthy and safe,  and also clearly light my way and leads me to be a better ayah.  

Boston, January 4th, 2013

Tangerang, January 5th, 2013 

I love you my sweetheart,

Your staunchest fan

Mmmuuachh.....

Ayah

May Allah Bless You, Ayah....

Ayah, the different space has separated us. It's so sudden and I was so shocked when I was notified that you'd passed away. I knew that the complications of deseas had hit you for a long time and I was aware of your pain and how strong you were to survive and enjoy your life until the best decision was made by God for you. Ayah, nothing need to be regretted though feeling of loss many times come to me. I will remember all the best things that you gave me. I know that your physical presence is impossible but the spirit and perceverance that you'd built in me will remain. I thank to God that He let me to meet your corpse and accompany you on the day of your funeral. Though I stay away from you for a long time due to my study and my work, my attempt to come was the proof that you are always in my heart. Ayah, I love you so much. Thank you for the beautiful memories that we'd made as long as your presence in nurturing and educating me. You were the one who always motivated me and believed that I could do the best for our family. I remembered when you advised me, you lought at me, you loved me, and you put your hope on me. As a child, I apologize for every bad attitude or behaviour which hurt you. I also apologize for having no time to take care you, especially when you were in a hospital care and for my inability to present a lot of happiness for you, especially in your old age. I will always pray for all the best for you there and may Allah bless you. Amin. Good bye Ayah. Best regards from my baby, your grandchild.

a letter of love to our first child - Chakierra Farzana Siregar (Kierra)

Assalamu'alaikum wr. wb.,
Dear Our Lovely Baby,

Baby, today is your birthday, the day of our happiness, your mom and your dad. By the time you're in your mom's belly for about 40 weeks, we always prayed for you every day, whispered all the best things and did the best we could. Now, we should be more grateful. Alhamdulillah, you are truly here with us. Our prayers have been answered. You are really an amazing and beautiful grace of our lifetime. We are very happy and really touched to be your parents. That's why, we write this first letter, a letter of love for you baby, expressing our deep grattitude at your presence. Baby, you're born as our little girl with a weight of 3.3 kg and 50 cm length by caesarean section, another wonderful story that we could tell you later. May Allah always keeps you in a good health and blessed.

Here, we also would like to introduce your name, Chakierra Farzana Siregar (Kierra). First name, Chakierra's origin is old English. Leaving your mom with a beautiful little blessing in her 12 weeks pregnant on duty to London, UK, inspired your dad for this part. People say that the first 12 weeks (3 months) is the most critical time of the pregnancy. Chakierra means "wise". Then, your dad and your mom also decided that "Chakierra" is another name for "Shakira" (gratefully), it's origin is Arabic. Second name, Farzana's origin is Arabic - French. Your mom was very fond of this part, it sounds beautiful, she said. Farzana means "intelligent". And the last name, Siregar, of course our familiy's name, means as far as you go, you could still back home, to our beloved and blessed home. We do hope that, insya Allah, you could grow up to be a sholehah, intelligent, and wise woman, especially in keeping the faith on the right path, struggling and maintaining the truth, facing challenges and problems in life as well as developing science and knowledge.

Baby Kierra, your mom's name is Alien Nur Intan, your dad's name is Binsan Siregar and your name is Chakierra Farzana Siregar. From day to day, you will find that we are imperfect parents. We hope that your presence would changes our lives for the better. As a mandate from God, we will do our best to take care you and be always at your side to understand the meaning of life. Allah, our God, provides Islam as the way of life. He is The Almighty. May Allah, shows us the right path in nurturing and educating you. We love you so much baby Kierra.

with love always,
ayah & bunda
Assyifa Hospital - Karawaci, Tangerang
January 5, 2012
Shafar 11, 1433

Sharing : trip to Korea & Singapore

It was a very valuable experience having an opportunity to visit South Korea and Singapore sequentially. Visiting Korea within 10 days and Singapore for the next 10 days. Korea and Singapore are two of 4 countries so called "four little dragons" or "the four tigers" in Asia. Two other countries are Hongkong and Taiwan. Executive Training Program on Public Policy and Administrative Reforms was the name of program that I was involved in. Participants came from 7 asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Viet Nam, and Philippines). I enjoyed sosializing and communicating with them. One each other has different language and we tried to communicate well in English. The style and culture were varies but of course we maintained a high level of tolerance.

Firstly, I wanna tell my experience in Korea, all the days of training were going well and being in Korea in winter season was the other impressive experience. During training, I stayed at International Cooperation Center (ICC) where all Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)’s training participants are accomodated. The Center is a four-story building and has 300 guest rooms with an internet café, classrooms, auditorium, reference room, business center, dining hall, etc. I think the place is comfortable although a bit far from downtown of Seoul, the capital city. Because of winter, the weather was very cold, the average temperature was 6 celcious degree and the morning is the most challenging times. I had to be ready with my jumper, jacket, or winter clothes everyday. The training was managed well by the committee, so that we got a lot of experiences not only focused on theories of economic development in the class but also field trip, social and culture program and culinery experience was my favourite. Hmmm..., I like kimchi, bee bim bap and many other foods with rich in vegetables.

Korea Development Isntitute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management was appointed to facilitate the training. The team was great, exelence and friendly. The professors were professional and qualified. Topics to be covered in Korea include From Aid to Development, KOrea's Export - Oriented Industrialization, Green Growth, Trade Liberalization and its Economic Impacts, Government Reform for Economic Development, Investment in Human Resources and Development in Korea, Anti - Corruption Reform and Government, and Conflict Management System. During field trip program, I had the opportunity to visit Samsung D’light, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Ministry of Strategy and Finance and Saemangeum Gunsan Free Economic Zone. And during social and culture program, we visited COEX, N-Seoul Tower, Nanta Show, Jenjou Traditional Village, Gyeongbok Palace, Korean Traditional Houses, N-Seoul Tower, and Insa-dong (a charming narrow street with Korean antique stores and art galleries). For all my collegues during training, Anyong Haseyo....:)

The Republic of Korea was once one of the poorest countries in the world and tried very hard to rebuild itself from the ashes of a devastating war. Innovation, Coordination and Goverment Externalities are the conceptual framework for development in Korea. Korea used international trade as an essential component of its development policy. The government and the private sector made joint efforts to address innovation and coordination externalities. They developed "a big-push partnership" in which the government shared the investment risks of the private sector and provided support largely based on performance in competitive global markets. In short, Korea adopted on outward-oriented, bottom-up, and integrated engineering approach in its industrial policy. Korea retained ownership of its industrialization, acquired and assimilated foreign technology and know-how, and progressively developed its own capabilities. So today, we are very familiar with Samsung, LG or Daewoo electronics, Hyundai, Daewoo, or KIA automobile and POSCO as a steel industry.

For Singapore session, another experience was obtained. As a tropical country has a very different weather compared with in Korea. Though it’s being rainy season, but many times especially at noon, the weather gets hot. But, it’s more suitable for us who come from neighbour country with the same climate. Civil Service College (CSC) Singapore was appointed to facilitate the training. The college serves as a key catalyst in initializing change and sustaining transformation whitin the Public Service through training and development. Holland Village which is close to the campus is my favourite spot for lunch. In Singapore, I had learnt many things regarding public policy and administrative reforms in Singapore. Training also combines classroom and learning journey. Topics to be covered in Singapore include Singapore's Economic Development and Transformation Journey, Singapore's Economic and Social Planning, Innovation in the Public Sector and Better Governance. Some learning journeys include Learning Journey to Housing Development Board, Zero Energy Building, Jurong Island, NParks/CUGE, Urban Redevelopment Authority, School of the Arts (SOTA), and Land Transport Authority. During Singapore session, I enjoyed traveling very much. Marina Bay area was my favourite place, especially at night. My hotel, Grand Park City Hall, is very closed to that. In Singapore, I visited Marrina Barrage, Singapore Flyer, Orchad Street, Orchad Garden, Sentosa Island, Jurong Island, China Town, Bugis Juction, Mustafa Shoping Centre, and others. For all my collegues during training, Every Where We Go, Enjoy lah.....

Singapore is a very unique country. The land is very small, only 646 sq km in area, 42 km east to west and 23 km north to south. In the beginning of its development, essentially, Singapore had nothing to start with, lack of natural resources, high unemployment rates, insufficient land to capture and poor qualty housing, and riots on the streets. Then, Singapore made skills, innovation, and productivity as the basis for sustaining Singapore's economic growth. Good leadership as it had been applied by Lee Kuan Yew, good governance, public service reforms and law enforcement are the keys to successful development in Singapore. Today, Singapore is enjoying prosperity with a high GDP growth (14,5% in 2010). The architecture of the city is very modern and well managed. In particular, Changi Airport and the Port of Singapore are ranked among the top airports and container ports in the world respectively. Public transportation system, such as MRT, has steadily improved over time. Singapore has a world-class environment and infrastructure. Singapore Government also maintain the greenery of environment so called “City in the Garden”. Every where you go, you’ll find city parks and roadside trees. Singapore attracts a lot of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to establish it’s economy. Singapore has the fundamentals of industrialisation. By co-operation and coordination of various statutory boards, Singapore sets up competitive adventages in Jurong Industrial Park. Many big companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron Philips, Shell, DuPont, Total, and Eastmant Chemical have invested in Jurong. The market in Singapore is opened, every business field is opened to investor with foreign capital ownership up to 100%. The tax is very low (17%) and the procedure in starting business is very easy. Now, I understand why Singapore always achieves the top rank in Ease of Doing Business Survey by World Bank.

At the end of each session, proudly, I always shared my opinion that one day, I believe Indonesia could be a developed country considering Indonesia as a big country with abundance natural resources. Today, Indonesia seems like a "Sleeping Giant". What should be done is the optimalization of all available resources to support sustainable development and balance growth. Indonesia has to focus on investment in human resources development (HRD) and research and development (R&D). Indonesia also needs to be always consistent with development policies/master plan that have been formulated and strengthens law enforcement. Developing a good investment climate both for FDI and DDI is the other important thing. Of course, we could't compare Indonesia with Singapore and Korea simply. Both Singapore and Korea are smaller state that in fact less complex of government and easier to implement policies. But at least, we have to learn how to manage a big country by learning from a smaller one. Invest in remarkable Indonesia....