My human right to pee costs me 20 pence

"The human right to water doesn't mean that water should be free"
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Kritik Kocak Stephen Colbert atas Prasangka Media Barat Terhadap Tragedi Norwegia

Stephen Colbert, komedian yang dulu juga pernah mengangkat kontroversi salaman Tifatul Sembiring dengan Nyonya Obama kali ini mengkritik media barat karena menjatuhkan prasangka bahwa pelaku pemboman Norwegia adalah teroris Muslim.

Colbert mengkritik Wall Street Journal, kolumnis Washington Post, New York Times dan beberapa tayangan Fox News yang terburu buru menuduh pelaku pemboman Oslo sebagai bagian dari Al Qaeda, atau beragama Islam. Silahkan saksikan kritik kocaknya berikut:

“Just because Norway's confessed murderer is a blond, blue-eyed, Norwegian-born, anti-Muslim crusader doesn't mean he's not a swarthy, ululating madman.”

ASIA LEADERS PROGRAMME SCHOLARSHIP (2012 - 2013)

Asia Leaders Programme Fellowship Academic Year 2012-2013 Overview of Instructions for preparing an application Applicants must submit the following documents by 14 October 2011. Please read the guidelines carefully to determine which documentation is needed. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Fill out the on-line application form Gather, scan and email a PDF copy of all of the following materials: Official Undergraduate Transcript (Original or certified true copy) Official BA Degree Curriculum Vitae or Résumé Two statements of purpose, one for each of the two MA Programmes of your choice English Proficiency Scores Report Copy of Passport Please email all materials in PDF format (WORD format is not valid) to the following email, by 14 October 2011:specialprogrammes@upeace.org. We will confirm receipt of application materials by e-mail as soon as possible. Request two letters of recommendation of faculty or other individuals qualified to evaluate your potential for graduate study, and have them email the letters to UPEACE. Detailed instructions and links for preparing an application   1. ON LINE application form   2. OFFICIAL UNDERGRADUATE TRANSCRIPT (original or certified true copy) Original transcript of records must be of a four-year Bachelor's degree (first University degree) with the official grading system in the original language and must come along with an official English translation, bearing the original signature of the Registrar and the school seal. Certified True Copies must bear the original signature of the Registrar and the school seal. Copies certified by Public Notaries are not valid Transcripts of records of MA programmes are not accepted   3.OFFICIAL BACHELOR'S DEGREE (original or certified true copy) The copy of the Diploma must be in the original language and must come with its official English translation. Certified True Copies must bear the original signature of the Registrar and the school seal. Copies certified by Public Notaries are not valid.   4. CURRICULUM VITAE OR RÉSUMÉ The Curriculum Vitae or Résumé must clearly state the following information: Name of applicant Applicant's birth date E-mail address Postal address Phone number Academic background (including institution name, graduation year and degree obtained) Working experience (including name of the institution, date of beginning, ending date and position) Multicultural exchanges Any other relevant information   5. TWO STATEMENTS OF PURPOSE The statements of purpose must be between 500 and 1000 words each, must clearly indicate which MA Programmes it is for and must respond to the following questions: Why have you decided to apply to the Asia Leaders Programme? What are your expectations for the UPEACE Academic Programme? What are your career goals after graduation?   6. ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST SCORES REPORT It is MANDATORY for all applicants. The following are the only English Proficiency Tests accepted: TEST Intermediate level Advance level (minimum score) TOEFL Paper based (PBT) 513-529 530 TOEFL Computer based (CBT) 183-214 215 TOEFL Internet Based (IBT) 71-89 90 IELTS Band 5.5-6.5 Band 7.0 UPEACE TOEFL Code: 7180 Notes: The original scores can be also sent by ETS, British Council or IDP to UPEACE TOEIC and TOEFL-ITP are not accepted Tests of more than two years old are not valid. Applicants who took the English Test more than two years ago must repeat the test. An English Language Phone Interview may be part of the selection process. Applicants will be notified in advance if such an interview is needed.   7. COPY OF PASSPORT The copy must be of the passport pages showing the following information: Name Photo Birth date Birthplace Issuance and expiration date Passport validity must be for at least 6 months after the end of the Programme (April 2014)   8. TWO LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION Some valid referees or recommenders are: Former professors Faculty Deans Academic Advisors Immediate Supervisors Research Project Managers Mentors Letters from family members or close friends are not accepted. Each letter must be attached to the Cover Form, which can be downloaded here Forward Cover Forms to recommenders, and have them attach it to the letter of recommendation. They must scan and email both the letter and Cover Form directly to UPEACE.

Digital Era Governance–Kapan Datang ke Indonesia?

Salah satu tema besar dalam tate kelola pemerintahan ('Governance’) adalah ramalan Dunleavy dkk tentang matinya New Public Management dan digantinya NPM dengan ‘Digital Era Governance’. Ciri-ciri NPM menurut Dunleavy ada 3: Disagregasi (pemisahan pemerintahan menjadi agensi agensi), Kompetisi (penggunaan outsourcing, alternatif supplier, penjualan aset dan deregulasi) serta Insentivisasi (misalnya lewat privatisasi, gaji disesuaikan dengan proforma dan dividen sektor publik).

Trend trend tersebut akan meredup dan diganti dengan Digital Era Governance (DEG) yang memiliki ciri ciri: Reintegrasi (yang tadinya terbagai dalam beberapa agensi mungkin disatukan kembali menjadi organisasi besar), ‘Needs based holism’ (onse stop solution untuk berbagai masalah dan struktur yang berfokus pada pelayanan – dan bukan semata kemauan birokrasi) serta Digitalisasi (misalnya pelayanan dan pengiriman elektronik, automatisasi, penghilangan birokrasi perantara dan sebagainya).

Sebenarnya beberapa fitur DEG ini sudah dapat ditemukan di Indonesia, misalnya dengan adanya pelayanan perpajakan online, atau di bidang yudikatif, lewat publikasi putusan-putusan Mahkamah Agung dan sebagainya. Hanya kelihatannya ada kendala birokrasi. Misalnya, dalam hal eksekusi putusan, para pihak yang bertikai atau pejabat pemerintahan tidak percaya ketika diberikan putusan yang di download online, dan tetap menunggu kabar berupa surat resmi pengadilan yang disampaikan juru sita pengadilan.

Salah satu elemen lain dari DEG adalah:

However, recent literature on governance pays more attention to the consumer side of the regulation, rather the investor side. Consider for example, Dunleavy's seminal paper "New Public Management is Dead -- Long Live Digital Era Governance" which argued that people are no longer a passive recipient of a public service, but also an actor and a partner. Other literature argued that the case where customer has no say on how the store is run, is no longer the trend. Disempowering customer from regulation has, in many instances, produces failures. For example, a steep increase in water tariff results in inability to pay. Inability to pay leads to disconnection. Disconnection leads to unpaid investment (in installing water meters and extending  pipelines to household) and in water theft. Water theft and unpaid investments leads to even higher tariffs. Finally, in the end of the day, the whole system collapse.

Berikut video dari Helen Margetts yang menjelaskan mengenai konsep DEG:

Download:

1. Paper Dunleavy New Public Management is Dead -- Long Live Digital Era Governance
2. Presentasi Dunleavy tentang DEG di OECD

Anders Behring Breivik 's Facebook & Twitter Page

There does not seem to be anything unusual with (what is alleged to be) Anders Behring Breivik 's facebook and twitter page. The facebook page has been taken down, don't know by who, but it is still visible through google's cache. The twitter page, only has one tweet, apparently a quotation from J.S. Mill "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests."

Among the books featured is "On Liberty" (from J.S. Mill) and there is also Orwell's 1984. It looks like that he is a gamer (world of warcraft) and a fan of Caprica and Stargate. But some said this page is quite new, so probably not that accurate to be used for profiling.

I still fail to comprehend what motivated him to do such horrible things.

Video Skype Nazaruddin dengan Iwan Piliang

Abis ditembak orang katanya. Ini beritanya di Jakpost. Banyak menyerang Bung Anas dan cerita 'deal deal' di KPK. Wah, KPK bisa diarah lagi nih...

Google Scholar launched “Track Citation” and “Authors Profile”

A super cool way for measuring your ‘intellectual influence’. Google scholar recently launched a tool to easily track citation to papers you authored. The tool can enable automatic addition of newly published articles to our profile. This is an example of an author profile, featuring Richard Feynman.

The tool is currently on limited launch, but Google said that it will make it available to all soon. Though my papers are not as influential as Feynman (ehm…),  I have signed up for an authors profile too