Pada bulan Juli lalu, beberapa mahasiswa, staf, dan dosen CRCS UGM terlibat dalam agenda “Vienna International Christian-Islamic Summer University” (VICISU) 2010. Tepatnya mulai tanggal 5 hingga 23, Dian Maya Safitri, Yuyun Sri Wahjuni, Sholahudin, Mohammad Rokib, juga Maria Inggrid Nabuboga, dan Dr. Fatimah Husein mengikuti agenda yang diadakan di Austria ini.

Dalam Wednesday Forum, 3 November lalu, dua di antara beberapa nama di atas yaitu Yuyun Sri Wahyuni dan Mohammad Rokib mendapat kesempatan berbagi pengalaman mengikuti acara yang diadakan oleh University of Vienna bekerja sama dengan Kementerian Riset dan Sains Austria tersebut.

For the second time, a student of the University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur took part in “Wednesday Forum” of CRCS/ICRS. The previous theme raised was about the issue of sleeping, and for 20 October 2010 discussion, the theme raised was about the concepts of reward and punishment within the educational system.

Moderated by Nyong Eka Teguh Imam Santoso from ICRS, the forum presented Mohamad Khairul Bajuri, a graduate student of philosophy from University of Malaya, who explored the title of “Use of Reinforcement in Learning: Content Analysis from Behavioral Science and Islamic Perspectives.” Bajuri delivered the results of a research he conducted in several institutions of Islamic education in Malaysia. Before conducting field observation, the research was initially begun with literature reviews from both scientific literatures, mainly psychology, and Islamic literatures.

One of the social phenomena feasible to be examined comprehensively is the issue of suicide. The frequency of suicides is relatively high and closely related to various aspects of human life. Addressing this issue, therefore, must be begun with a thorough study involving interdisciplinary methodology as delivered by Dicky Sofjan, Ph.D in his presentation at CRCS-ICRS Wednesday Forum on Wednesday, 27 October 2010.

Presenting “Suicide and Social Disintegration: Where’s the (Dis)-Connection?”, Dicky Sofjan, a Regional Project Manager in the Asian Public Intellectuals (API) institution, began his presentation with a description of the suicide intensity around the world. The varied motives and types of suicide were also presented. In particular, he mentioned the quite high suicide rate in the area of Gunung Kidul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Province.

Untuk kedua kalinya utusan dari Universitas Malaya Kuala Lumpur ambil bagian dalam presentasi diskusi diskusi khas CRCS/ICRS “Wednesday Forum”. Jika sebelumnya tema yang diangkat oleh utusan universitas tersebut adalah seputar permasalahan tidur, kali ini tema yang diangkat dalam Wednesday Forum edisi 20 oktober 2010 adalah seputar permasalahan konsep ganjaran dan hukuman dalam sistem pendidikan.

Mohamad Khairudin Bajuri, mahasiswa Filsafat Pascasarjana Universitas Malaya, mengetengahkan judul “Use of Reinforcement in Learning: Content Analysis from Behavioral Science and Islamic Perspectives.” Melalui presentasi ini Bajuri menyampaikan hasil riset yang ia lakukan di beberapa lembaga pendidikan Islam di Malaysia. Riset ini telah diawali sebelumnya dengan kajian pustaka baik dari literatur sains utamanya psikologi maupun dari literatur Islam.

Salah satu fenomena masyarakat yang masih layak dikaji secara komprehensif adalah persoalan bunuh diri. Frekuensi kasus bunuh diri relatif tinggi dan berkait erat dengan berbagai aspek kehidupan manusia. Mengatasi persoalan ini, dengan demikian, harus diawali dengan kajian menyeluruh yang melibatkan metodologi interdisipliner. Demikianlah yang disampaikan Dicky Sofjan, Ph.D. dalam presentasinya di Wednesday Forum CRCS-ICRS pada Rabu 27 oktober 2010 lalu.

Mengangkat judul “Suicide and Social Disintegration: Where’s the (Dis)-Connection?” Sofjan, Regional Project Manager di lembaga Asian Public Intellectuals (API), mengawali presentasinya dengan deskripsi intensitas bunuh diri di seluruh penjuru dunia. Motif serta tipe bunuh diri yang sedemikian beragam juga ia paparkan. Secara khusus ia kemudian membahas seputar angka bunuh diri yang cukup tinggi di wilayah Kabupaten Gunung Kidul, Provinsi Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta.

Talking about Islam in Indonesia, we have to put this huge discourse into some boxes of specific issues that we try to figure out deeply. As we know, Islam has been seen as a very important subject of study for the past decade. Many people started re-examining and questioning again about what we actually mean by Islam. Are there any critical shifts in the history of Islam itself? What kind of perspectives or approaches should we use to understand it? Here, we discuss about some general issues that often asked by scholars in understanding Islam especially in Indonesia.