SUFI DAN SUFISME

Bila mendengar kata sufi dan sufisme,  pertama kali yang muncul di benak kita adalah gambaran seorang kiai lengkap dengan atributnya sorban dan tasbih,  kiai tersebut hidup di pelosok desa jauh dari keramaian kota. Atau, barangkali yang muncul di benak kita adalah gambaran pengikut tarikat yang hidup berkelompok mengasingkan diri dari masyarakat umum,  dan mereka melakukan ibadah dengan cara-cara tertentu,  berbeda dengan ibadah yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat umum.  Dari gambaran-gambaran tersebut memunculkan anggapan, bahwa sufi dan sufisme cenderung tertutup atau mengisolir diri.

THE BATTLE FOR AMERICAN MINDS

After the Cold War, many in the defense community explored new ways to leverage the rapid expansion of information technology beyond traditional command, control and communications functions. Naval innovators were at the forefront of this effort.  Most notably Vice Admiral Art Cebrowski proliferated the concepts of Net Centric Warfare and Admiral William Owens partnered with Harvard professor Joseph Nye to pen an influential Foreign Affairs piece on America’s information edge.

FLEET IN BEING

In naval warfare, a "fleet in being" is a naval force that extends a controlling influence without ever leaving port. Were the fleet to leave port and face the enemy, it might lose in battle and no longer influence the enemy's actions, but while it remains safely in port, the enemy is forced to continually deploy forces to guard against it. A "fleet in being" can be part of a sea denial  doctrine, but not one of sea control.

HASTHA BRATA

DELAPAN SIFAT-SIFAT UTAMA KEPEMIMPINAN

Hastha Brata,  atau Delapan Sifat-Sifat Utama Kepemimpinan tercantum di Kitab Ramayana sebagai ajaran Sri Ramawijaya  kepada Barata yang ditunjuk menggantikannya sebagai Raja.   Sri Ramawijaya juga mengajarkan Hastha Brata kepada Gunawan Wibisana,  ketika penobatan Gunawan Wibisana sebagai Raja Alengka setelah Rahwana dikalahkan.    Hastha Brata juga tercantum di Kitab Mahabarata,  sebagai ajaran Sri Kresna kepada Arjuna.
Di bawah ini penulis berusaha menjabarkan ajaran Hastha Brata secara singkat dan dengan bahasa sederhana.

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR

Peloponnesian War, (431–404 bc),  war fought between the two leading city-states in ancient Greece, A Athens and Sparta. Each stood at the head of alliances that, between them, included nearly every Greek city-state. The fighting engulfed virtually the entire Greek world, and it was properly regarded by  Thucydides,    whose contemporary account of it is considered to be among the world’s finest works of history, as the most momentous war up to that time.

A brief treatment of the Peloponnesian War follows.

WESTERN AND EASTERN OCTOPUS MANEUVER

As already been known, after the attack to Pearl Harbor, the road was opened for Japan to make invasion to the South, and this was conducted  simultaneously and in high speed. From the month of January to February 1942, almost simultaneously together Japan maneuvered in two battle fields at the same time. 

Its sea force moving through the South China Sea spread the invasion and amphibian landing directly to several targets. Samuel Eliot Morison, the author of The Rising Sun in The Pacific, called the Japan’s maneuver from the South China Sea was just like Western Octopus Maneuver.

RASIONALISME PANCASILA

Keseimbangan antara Cipta, Rasa dan Karsa

Rasionalisme yang dipelopori oleh Rene Descartes  – Bapak Filsafat Modern – pada abad-17 dan kemudian makin dikembangkan oleh Baruch Spinoza, Leibzniz dan tokoh-tokoh filsafat modern lainnya,  pada dasarnya adalah suatu rasionalisme murni.  Rasionalisme yang digelindingkan oleh Descartes mendobrak pemikiran-pemikiran kolot pada zamannya, dan memberi dampak luar biasa dalam bidang pemikiran. 

THE ROYAL NAVY TRAINING SYSTEM

MENGENAL SISTEM PELATIHAN ROYAL NAVY 

Educational Technology.  Teknologi pendidikan yang diterapkan di Angkatan Laut Inggris / Royal Navy, sejalan dengan perkembangan teknologi di negara Barat pada umumnya.   Sejak tahun 1972 Royal Navy telah menerapkan metodologi pendidikan modern yang akrab disebut Educational Technology, dengan tujuan untuk mencapai hasil guna dan daya guna maksimal.

Educational Technology sebagai suatu sistem pendidikan modern terdiri dari tiga subsistem utama, yaitu :  Education, Development, dan Training.

MARITIME STRATEGY FOR MEDIUM POWERS

Medium Power Strategy Revisited

Some fifteen years ago I set out, in a book called Maritime Strategy for Medium Powers, some ideas as to the principles by which such powers could conduct their maritime affairs in the  foreseeable future – a future which should be subject to the minimum number of assumptions.

That caveat has been justified by events  since, principally by the destruction of the assumption that the bipolar world and associated Cold War would continue indefinitely. It is therefore an opportune moment to examine whether the theories of medium-power maritime strategy, such as they are, have survived intact or need to be modified.

One critical assumption, however, must be made and needs to be stated. It is that the nation-state is and will remain the principal unit of account in the world’s strategic dealings. That is not statement that would pass unchallenged on the other side of the world. The experience of Europe, and maybe to some extent the United States, over past years has tempted many to wonder if the primacy of the nation-state has given way to other elements of the global village : federal institutions, structure alliances, multi-national corporations, irredentist factions, non-governmental organizations, powerful and media-supported special interest groups. Those complexities and doubts are perceived as less far-reaching in this part of the globe; and for what it is worth I go along with that perception.  But, even if they are given less weight in the Asia-Pacific region, account must be taken of these developments -  for which a convenient shorthand is globalization – in any re-analysis of medium-power strategy.

Belgrano: Enemy ship posed threat to forces

"  In the afternoon on May 2, the British Submarine HMS. Conqueror shot two torpedoes of Mark VIII to an Argentinean Cruiser Ship “General Belgrano”. In 40 minutes General Belgrano sank. The attack of British submarine occurred at the waters about 36 miles out of “The 200 Mile War Zone” declared by British. This was recorded as a violation against the war limitation declared by the British itself. However, possibly such violation was certainly conducted on purpose, and became a part of British strategy to remove the power of Argentine Navy from Falklands territory. "  (  Lessons Of The Falklands War ).

FALKLANDS WAR : THE BRITISH ATTACK

In Falklands War, the naval strategy of avoiding the strong sides and attacking the weak ones was also applied by both parties in war. British, although in possession of more superior sea power comparing with Argentine, carried out the projection of its power from sea to the land with its first target was the weak side possessed by Argentine.

On April 25, 1982, or 23 days after the Argentine invasion to Falklands, British landed its command troops not in Falklands, but at Grytviken Coast in South Georgia. South Georgia consists of many small islands located  at the South East of Falklands, comprising among others  South Sandwich islands and Shag-Clerke coral islands. Its distance from East Falklands is more than 1000 miles, and is more than 1300 miles from the closest land of Argentine.Image courtesy of www.forces80.com

AVOID THE STRONG SIDES, ATTACK THE WEAK ONES.

Military tactic is just like water, flowing on its current naturally, namely from the high place flowing down to lower one. And so is in a war. Avoid the strong sides but attack the weak ones.

Water forms its current pursuant to the kind of land it flows. The soldiers will combat for their victory depending on the enemy they face. Therefore, just like water which is always not in fixed form, the condition in war will never be constant.

       

Stay away from enemy having perfect banners, avoid attacking a good troop in strong reliable structure is an art in learning the environment.

If our power is not in balance with the power of our enemy, it means that it is not necessary for us to make a direct attack.

(Sun Tzu)

The structure of strength of a fleet or sea combating force is determined by the number of ships and their types, condition and their capabilities.  A big power structure does not always guarantee its strength. And although the factor of technological superiority is still determinant, however it still depends on its situation and condition. It is for this reason that the term “the strong side” of a combating power at the sea shall be meant pursuant to its various situation in dimension of space and time.