poem for mom's

Everything Mom

How did you find the energy, Mom
To do all the things you did,
To be teacher, nurse and counselor
To me, when I was a kid.

How did you do it all, Mom,
Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,
Yet find time to be a playmate,
I just can’t comprehend.

I see now it was love, Mom
That made you come whenever I'd call,
Your inexhaustible love, Mom
And I thank you for it all.



Without You

Mom, without you, there would be no me.
Your love, your attention, your guidance,
have made me who I am.
Without you, I would be lost,
wandering aimlessly,
without direction or purpose.
You showed me the way
to serve, to accomplish, to persevere.
Without you, there would be an empty space
I could never fill, no matter how I tried.
Instead, because of you,
I have joy, contentment, satisfaction and peace.
Thank you, mom.
I have always loved you
and I always will.






Daughter of My Heart

You turned out even better
Than I often dreamed you’d be;
You’re more than I had hoped for;
You’re a sweet reward to me.

You grew up to be a mother
Full of wisdom, warmth and love,
A good and fine role model,
A blessing from above.

I couldn’t be any prouder
Than I am today of you;
You’re my daughter and my friend,
And a wonderful person, too.

You have my love forever;
I adored you from the start;
It’s a privilege to be your mother,
Dear daughter of my heart.

skandal bank century

Gonjang-ganjing kasus bank Cenutry kini kembali naik kepermukaan dan kian menghebohkan, sementara keresahan publik lagi usai lantaran perseretuan hukum antara Kejaksaan Agung Kepolisian RI dan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) belumlah usai. Berbagai komentar publik dan polemik di media massa, pun ramai bermunculan. Mulai dari pujian hingga cacian yang ditujukan kepada para pejabat negara yang terlibat dalam persoalan hukum tersebut. Skandal Bank Century terkuak ke permukaan ketika kalah kliring pada 13 November 2008. Pemerintah pun memutuskan untuk menyelamatkan bank swasta itu di tengah bayang-bayang krisis keuangan global yang telah melanda dunia saat itu khususnya di Amerika Serikat. Saat itu pemerintah tidak mau ambil resiko sebab jika sampai Bank Century ambruk dan meruntuhkan kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap perbankan. Kebijakan untuk memberikan dana talangan (bail out) segera saja diputuskan guna mencegah “rush” berupa penarikan dana secara besar-besaran dari para nasabah, seperti yang terjadi pada 1998. Pemerintah turun tangan mengambil alih bank itu lewat Lembaga Penjamin Simpanan (LPS) pada 21 November 2009. Dana sebesar Rp6,7 triliun digelontor ke bank tersebut dengan harapan bisa beroperasi kembali secara normal. Aparat kepolisian juga bertindak cepat pada 26 Desember 2008, Mabes Polri menahan salah satu pemegang yang juga menjadi Direktur Utama yakni Robert Tantular. Sayangnya, dua pemegang saham yang andil besar atas jatuhnya bank itu yakni Rafat Ali Risvi dan Hesham Al Warraq terlanjur kabur ke luar negeri. Begitu juga dengan Kepala Divisi Bank Note Bank Century, Dewi Tantular, yang tidak lain adik Robert juga kabur. Polri telah menetapkan 17 tersangka dalam skandal itu namun baru 11 orang yang telah dan akan diajukan ke pengadilan sedangkan yang lainnya kabur. Jumlah tersangka akan terus berkembang karena penyidikan masih terus berlangsung. Kepala Badan Reserse Kriminal Polri Komjen Pol Susno Duadji mengatakan, kasus pidana skandal Centuruy terus berkembang bahkan bisa “beranak pinak”. Misalnya, ada kasus reksadana PT Antaboga Delta Sekuritas di skandal itu dan ada kasus penipuan dan penggelapan di kasus Antaboga. Kasus pidana yang ada antara lain perbankan, investasi ilegal, kredit fiktif, penipuan, penggelapan dan pencucian uang. “Jadi Robert Tantular memang sudah divonis empat tahun namun dia akan disidang lagi untuk kasus lain. Setidaknya ada enam kasus yang menjadikan dia sebagai tersangka. Dia bisa keluar masuk pengadilan untuk kasus yang berbeda,” katanya. Memburu Asset Tidak hanya menyeret pelaku kejahatan ke pengadilan, pemerintah juga memburu asset milik pelaku kejahatan dan milik Bank Century baik di dalam maupun di luar negeri. Awalnya, Polri cuma menyita sejumlah aset milik para tersangka. Aset-aset itu antara lain 22 hektare tanah di Jl. Fatmawati, 100 hektare tanah di Depok, dan 75 persen saham di PT Bumi Serpong Damai, 100 persen saham Serpong Plaza, Perumahan Buana Plaza, Serpong Trade Center, dan Takeda Farmasi serta Rumah Sakit Husada Utama. Polri juga menyita uang tunai Rp546 juta, saham di PT Antaboga Delta Sekuritas Indonesia sebanyak 3,295 miliar lembar saham, dan saham PT Bahana Sekuritas sebanyak 269 juta lembar. Aset lain yang disita adalah uang tunai Rp 25,5 miliar, tiga unit mobil, empat sertifikat tanah di Cempaka Putih senilai Rp350 juta. Selain itu, masih ada uang tunai di Krendang Duri Utara sebesar Rp200 juta, Desa Cinere Rp 500 juta, dan Kemang 1 Rp 1,6 miliar, serta dua unit apartement di Four Seasons Jakarta Selatan dan Asscot di Jakarta Pusat. Perburuan aset pun dilanjutkan ke luar negeri dengan bekerja sama dengan negara lain. Pelacakan asset itu tidak saja melibatkan Polri tapi juga Bank Indonesia, Departemen Luar Negeri, Departemen Keuangan, Pusat Pelaporan dan Analisa Transaksi Keuangan (PPATK), Departemen Hukum dan Ham serta Bank Century yang kini berubah nama menjadi Bank Mutiara. Tim pelacak asset Century bekerja sama dengan jumlah negara berhasil membekukan secara permanen uang milik Rifat Ali Risvi dan Hesham Al senilai USD 1,164 miliar atau setara Rp11,64 triliun yang tersimpan di UBS AG Bank, Standard Chartered Bank dan ING Bank. Pencarian dana itu menunggu proses persidangan di Indonesia selesai. Susno menambahkan, ada harta Robert dan beberapa mantan pemilik Century sekitar Rp12 triliun hingga Rp13 triliun yang tersebar ke 10 negara di berbagai belahan dunia antara lain Hongkong, Mauritius dan Jersey. Direktur Pengawasan Bank I Bank Indonesia (BI) Boedi Armanto mengatakan Bank Century masih memiliki dana sekitar 156 juta dolar AS di Bank Dressner Swiss. “Dana ini merupakan back to back atau jaminan dari surat berharga yang dimiliki oleh Bank Century,” katanya. Bank Century, kata Boedu, juga memiliki surat berharga senilai 203 juta dolar AS yang memiliki jaminan 220 juta dolar AS salah satu bank di Swiss. Deputi Direktur Pengawasan Bank I Heru Kristiana mengatakan, pihaknya telah mendapatkan surat dari pengadilan Swiss bahwa dana jaminan sebesar 220 juta dolar AS tersebut masih ada. “Kami telah mengusahakan agar klaim dana itu,” kata Heru. Tidak itu saja, pemerinah juga menemukan dan memblokir aset di luar negeri atas nama Robert Tantular senilai Rp 192,5 miliar USB AG Bank Hongkong, Trust Structure di PJK Jersey, dan Private Wealth Management Division di Inggris. Susno mengaku gembira dengan perburuan asset itu karena jumlah asset yang disita sangat banyak dengan nilai hingga belasan triliun rupiah. “Dalam kasus yang sama sebelumnya, paling yang disita hanya beberapa puluh miliar saja,” katanya. Keberhasilan itu patut diacungi jempot karena nilai asset yang disita hingga belasan triliun rupiah. Surat Susno Sayang, keberhasilan melacak berbagai aset itu ternoda gara-gara surat yang ditandatangani oleh Susno untuk membantu pencairan uang USD 18 juta milik salah satu nasabah Bank Century, Budi Sampurno. Tuduhan terhadap Susno yang diduga menerima suap tidak terelakkan. Susno membantah telah membantu pencairan dana nasabah bank dan yang dilakukan adalah memberikan keterangan ke Bank Century bahwa uang USD 18 juta itu sudah tidak ada masalah hukum. “Tidak ada kata-kata yang berisi perintah kepada Bank Century untuk mencairkan rekening itu. Saya terbuka aja. Dan surat itu bukan rahasia kok,” ujar sambil menunjukkan surat itu kepada wartawan. Susno menulis surat itu sebagai jawabab atas pengaduan Budi yang kesulitan mencairkan uang di Bank Century karena uang itu pernah dipermasalahkan secara hukum. Ia membantah telah menerima Rp10 miliar karena membantu pencairan dana itu. ”Saya juga diisukan terima fee 10 persen juga,” katanya. Susno menantang pihak-pihak yang bisa membuktikan adanya uang Rp10 miliar atau fee 10 persen itu dan berjanji akan “membagi” kepada orang yang bisa membuktikan isu itu. Di hadapan Komisi III DPR, Susno bahkan mengucapkan sumpah sambil mengangkat tangan bahwa ia tidak menerima uang suap Rp10 miliar dalam kasus itu. Inspektur Pengawasan Umum Polri Komjen Pol Yusuf Manggabarani mengatakan, hingga kini Polri belum menemukan bukti bahwa Susno menerima uang suap. Namun Tim Delapan yang dibentuk Presiden memberikan rekomendasi bahwa ada kaitan antara kasus pencairan uang itu dengan kasus Bibit-Chandra sehingga perlu ditindaklanjuti oleh Presiden. Akibat kasus Bibit-Chandra yang ada kaitan dengan Century, Susno sempat mengajukan nonaktif dari jabatan namun menjabat lagi saat tim Delapan selesai bertugas. Akankan kasus suat Susno itu akan terus menjadi bahan cacian publik ditengah pujian atas keberhasilan memburu asset Bank Century ?

Five Facts on Indonesian President Yudhoyono

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is favourite to win a second term in office in July, helped by the resilient performance of Southeast Asia's largest economy during the global crisis.

The poll line-up was finalised after a deadline to register expired on Saturday and Yudhoyono, whose running mate is central bank governor Boediono, faces a challenge from his vice president, Jusuf Kalla, and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Here are five facts about Yudhoyono.

• Yudhoyono, 59, was born in Pacitan, East Java. He was brought up in a devout Muslim household and his father was a soldier who encouraged his military ambitions. He graduated top of class in 1973 at the military academy. The former general went on to serve in the army for 27 years under former strongman President Suharto. While contemporaries suffered from charges of human rights violations, Yudhoyono was widely seen as clean.
• In addition to his military experience, Yudhoyono has a strong academic background and completed a masters in management in the United States in 1991. He also has a doctorate in agricultural economics, and has authored a number of books.
• Despite climbing up the military ladder, his public prominence came only after Suharto was pressured from office in 1998. He became oil minister and as security minister under former President Megawati was credited with tackling the threat posed by militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). In 2004, he ran against Megawati in Indonesia's first direct elections for president -- and won, with just over 60 percent of the vote. He is now Indonesia's longest-serving president since the ouster of Suharto, and has presided over one of its best economic performances.
• His well-known penchant for a deliberate, cautious and slow approach -- others call it indecisiveness -- has been criticised and some say he often relied too much on his vice president, Kalla, to make tough decisions in his first term. But others argue it is part of his style to let his senior people be in front on policy, but when the crunch comes and his active support is critical, as in selling a 2005 peace deal in Aceh to the public and parliament, he gives it.
• He has pressed hard on corruption and during his term the anti-corruption commission has arrested some high-profile officials. Although graft remains a big problem, the progress under his administration has meant the issue has barely been brought up by his opponents. His government also reached an important peace agreement in troubled Aceh province, on the tip of Sumatra, as well as in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Yudhoyono is well ahead of his rivals in the opinion polls with 67 percent saying they would vote for him as president, against 12 percent for Megawati and 2 percent for Kalla in a recent poll.

Indonesia Legal System Under Fire Over E-mail Case

An Indonesian mother who was fined, jailed and put on trial after sending an e-mail to friends complaining about her treatment in a private hospital, has become a rallying point for reform of the country's legal system.

Indonesia's unpredictable legal system is one of the main deterrents to much needed investment.

While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking re-election next month, has pushed through some reforms and made inroads tackling graft in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, reform of the legal system has lagged.

The defamation case against Prita Mulyasari has sparked a public uproar over a perception that she has been miserably treated by a legal system that often favors the rich and well-connected in the world's fourth-most populous country.

"It's a very important case because it has to do with freedom of speech, freedom of expression," said Todung Mulya Lubis, a prominent Indonesian lawyer and rights campaigner.

Concerns over the case have also become entwined in campaigning for a presidential election on July 8.

"The application of the law has to be fair and transparent," Yudhoyono, who is currently favorite to win a new term, told a televised presidential debate last week.

A survey by Indonesia's anti-corruption agency in February found the judiciary was the most graft-prone public institution in the country, illustrated by cases where officials have been caught red-handed with suitcases stuffed with cash.

The legal system is also notoriously complex. In addition to codes dating from the Dutch colonial era, Indonesia has passed a blizzard of new local laws to allow greater decentralization.

Foreign companies have frequently become ensnared in controversial legal battles in Indonesia's courts.

A local unit of Canada's Manulife Financial Corp was declared bankrupt by an Indonesian court in 2002, despite being solvent. The Supreme Court later overturned that ruling.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court reversed a 1 trillion rupiah ($97.13 million) libel ruling against Time magazine over an article alleging that Suharto and his family had amassed a $15 billion fortune.

The lengthy legal battle against the publication, owned by Time Warner Inc, was seen as a key test of the country's legal system and freedom of speech.

FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN

The Mulyasari case has struck a particular chord, with thousands of Indonesians signing pledges of support for her on sites such as Facebook.

The 32-year-old mother, who wears a head veil, comes across as an ordinary, middle-income mom doing her best to raise two young children in mainly Muslim Indonesia. She had accused Omni International Hospital of being unprofessional in its treatment of her, for what turned out to be mumps.

Her private e-mail to friends was later circulated on other internet sites, prompting the hospital to file a defamation case accusing her of damaging its doctors' reputation.

Mulyasari was initially fined $30,000 in a civil case and then jailed for three weeks ahead of a criminal case under a controversial information law passed in 2008 that means she could face up to six years in jail for spreading false news online.

Hadi Furqon, an official in Omni's legal department, declined to comment on the case since a legal process was ongoing.

The Electronic Information and Transactions Law is not the only recently passed law to attract criticism over how it may be applied. An anti-pornography bill, also passed last year, faced opposition over concerns it discriminates against minorities.

The huge public backlash over the Mulyasari case prompted all three presidential candidates to express support for her plight.

Yudhoyono summoned the attorney general to urge her release. Opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri visited a tearful Mulyasari in jail, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also running for president, lobbied the police chief.

Aided by the attention, Mulyasari was freed from jail and put under "city arrest," although the criminal case continues.

Robert C. La Mont, Jakarta-based legal reform director at the Asia Foundation, said despite progress, real change in the legal system could perhaps take 10 years, given the amount of corruption, lack of central controls and need for legal reform.

"The last few years have seen ongoing improvements but not enough to change the citizen's or industry's perceptions because the problems are so overwhelming," he said

King of Pop Michael Jackson Dies, Aged 50

Michael Jackson, the child star turned King of Pop who set the world dancing but whose musical genius was overshadowed by a bizarre lifestyle and sex�scandals, died on Thursday. He was 50.

Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. PDT (2126 GMT) after arriving at a Los Angeles hospital in full cardiac arrest, said Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. The cause of death was not known and an autopsy would likely take place on Friday, he said.

Jackson was taken ill at home and his personal physician tried to resuscitate him but could not, his brother Jermaine told reporters. He was taken by paramedics to the hospital, where doctors worked for more than an hour to try to revive him before pronouncing him dead, the brother said.

Late Thursday, his body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner's office. The self-styled "King of Pop," whose hits that included "Thriller" and "Billie Jean," leaves behind a mountain of debt and an unfulfilled series of comeback concerts set for London in July. Many hoped the shows would rake in millions and erase his financial troubles.

Jackson's dramatic, one-gloved stage presence and innovative dance moves were imitated by legions of fans around the world who mourned his death.

His lifetime record sales tally was believed to be around 750 million, and with his 13 Grammy Awards and boundary-breaking music videos he was one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

But Jackson's belief that "I am Peter Pan in my heart," his preference for the company of children, his friendship with a chimp, his high-pitched voice and numerous plastic surgeries also earned him critics and the nickname "Wacko Jacko."

Jackson led a reclusive life after his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation, the second time he had faced ultimately unproved allegations of abuse of young boys.

"I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news," said Quincy Jones, who helped arrange the music on the album "Thriller" and produced the "Off the Wall" album, said in a statement.

Celebrity tributes poured in for the singer who was one of the first black entertainers of the MTV generation to gain a big crossover following.

Pop star Madonna said: "I can't stop crying over the sad news ... I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats but his music will live on forever.

JACKSON'S HEALTH A QUESTION

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson's home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, saying they had been directed to do so by Chief William Bratton because of the media frenzy.

Police called the investigation an "every day" event and said they were assigned due to the high profile nature of it.

But Jackson was plagued by ill health throughout his adult years leading to speculation about his condition when he died.

As Jackson grew older he appeared to lighten his skin to a pale white -- which he said was caused by the skin pigmentation condition vitiligo. Last year he was photographed in Las Vegas in a wheelchair for reasons that were never explained.

Yet, even as he seemed to be sick, Jackson planned the series of comeback concerts in London starting July 13 to help erase debts that the Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500 million, citing people familiar with Jackson's finances.

He had been rehearsing for the past two months, including Wednesday night at Los Angeles' huge Staples Center arena.

Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN that the family had been concerned about the pop star's health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months.

"Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals. His use of medications had gotten in the way, his injuries which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebrae and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way," Oxman told CNN.

But the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

CHILD STAR TO MEGASTAR

Jackson was born on Aug. 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael -- first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6. They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released "Thriller" in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing "Billie Jean" during an NBC special.

But his personal life was troubled. In 1993, Jackson was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy, but no charges were filed against him and the matter was settled out of court in 1994 with the boy's family.

The same year, Jackson announced he had become addicted to painkillers and abruptly canceled a world tour to promote his album, "Dangerous."

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. "I'm so very sad and confused with every emotion possible.

... This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me," Presley said in statement.

Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother.

He is survived by three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

Dozens of fans gathered near Jackson's modest boyhood home in Gary, to pay their respects to the entertainer who left the city long ago. Some deposited flowers or toys and others blared his hit songs from their car stereos.

In Los Angeles, fans waited outside the hospital, the coroner's office, and in New York, people gathered at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, singing Jackson hits and dancing in celebratory tribute

Sex and the City "Sarah Jessica Parker"

actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick had twin daughters via a surrogate mother, the couple's publicists said on Tuesday.

Parker, 44, and Broderick, 47, who already have a six-year-old son said their daughters -- named Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge -- were born on Monday in Ohio.

"The babies are doing beautifully and the entire family is over the moon," the couple said in a statement.

Parker is expected to begin shooting a sequel later this year to the movie version of the TV series "Sex and the City" along with Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis.

Broderick, star of the Broadway musical and movie "The Producers," and Parker married in 1997.

Rich, Poor States Seek Deal for UN Finance Meeting

Rich and poor nations edged closer on Tuesday to a deal on proposals for reforming the global financial system, but diplomats said there must be changes if a U.N. conference this week is to adopt them.

A three-day U.N. General Assembly meeting on the financial crisis and its impact on the developing world, originally scheduled for June 1 to 3, was postponed to Wednesday to Friday when it became clear negotiators had no agreement on draft proposals.

Although the meeting has been billed as a summit, no Western leaders are expected to attend and only 14 presidents and prime ministers will show up. The other 112 countries taking part will send lower-level delegations.

The heads of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank will also be sending deputies, U.N. officials said. Western envoys said that reflected dissatisfaction with the meeting's organizer, leftist U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto of Nicaragua.

The top speakers are to be Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, both well-known leftists. While Morales has confirmed he will attend, U.N. diplomats said Chavez might join the long list of absent world leaders. They

did not know why Chavez might not appear and the Venezuelan U.N. mission was not available for comment.

The run-up to the conference has highlighted differences between radicals who want to give the 192-nation General Assembly much more say in tackling the financial crisis and major powers intent on keeping control in their own hands.

With less than 24 hours to go before the conference opens at U.N. headquarters, diplomats told Reuters they were closing in on an agreement on a set of proposals they hope the conference will adopt.

D'Escoto told reporters that most of the work on the draft proposals was done, although he said they would still have to be approved by the 126 nations attending the meeting.

"I am satisfied with the way it's going," said D'Escoto, a Roman Catholic priest who was Nicaragua's foreign minister in the 1980s in the left-wing Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega, who returned to the presidency in 2007.

He also rejected criticism of the summit and the way it had been organized, saying, "What is important is what will be agreed