Once again, I was conscious of the paradox of the compound: that here, at the heart of the unfolding events, we could catch no more than a glimpse of them. Fires were burning all over Dili; the smell was in our nostrils from the moment we wok up, and occasionally we could see columns of smoke. But the flames themselves, and the faces of the fire starters, were invisible. At the computers in the Unamet press room, we waited in turn to log on to the news websites and learn what was happening to us.

Just before we left, Jean said, 'You know what else? Falintil is here. They're not armed, but they're keeping an eye on things. Can you spot them?' I peered among the hill people, and thought that perhaps I could: an older man with an air of authority; a young man with a vigilant look about him, moving from group to group, appearing to direct and advise the other voters. I couldn't be sure. But that was Falintil, after all: never wholly present nor completely absent, a sense of reassurance rather than a physical force: something watching over you.

Iblis tidak berjarak dengan diri kita, dengan karakter budaya, politik dan pasar sejarah kita. Malah Tuhan yang jaraknya cenderung semakin menjauh dari kita, kecuali pas kita perlukan untuk memperoleh keuntungan atau mentopengi muka.Akan tetapi dalam kehidupan kita Iblis bukan fakta. Ia hanya simbol. Idiom. Icon. Hanya abstraksi untuk menuding “kambing hitam”. Atau Tuhan kita perlukan untuk kapitalisasi karier, bisnis pendidikan, usaha dagang sedekah dan industri zakat, kostum religi perbankan dan bermacam-macam lagi dusta liberal penyelenggaraan kapitalisme kita.

It was radicals like you and your father that hijacked your faith, hijacked a few planes, and made thousands of children orphans in a single day. You pretend my country beats you because you are poor, but you ignore that it was people of your faith that made this war. People like your father made this war. People like your father called for jihad. Well now you got it. You don’t like it? Tell the Imam that his ignorance made his people poor. You don’t understand Americans at all. We don’t beat you because you’re poor. You pissed us off. We’d beat your ass rich or poor.

Salah besar orang yang mengatakan revolusi kita belum selesai. Revolusi adalah letusan masyarakat sekonyong-konyong yang melaksanakan Umwertung aller Werte (penilaian kembali atas semua nilai). Revolusi mengguncang lantai dan sendi; pasak dan tiang longgar semuanya. Sebab itu saat revolusi tidak dapat berlaku terlalu lama, tidak lebih dari beberapa minggu, atau beberapa bulan. Sesudah itu harus dibendung, datang masa konsolidasi untuk merealisasi hasil daripada revolusi itu. Yang belum selesai bukanlah revolusi itu, melainkan usaha menyelenggarakan cita-citanya di dalam waktu, setelah fundamen dibentangkan.

Based on the experience of history and civilization of mankind, which is more important for Muslims today, to no longer busy discussing the greatness that Muslims achieved in the past, or debating who first discovered the number zero, including the number one, two, three and so on, as the contribution of Muslims in the writing of numbers in this modern era and the foundation and development of civilizations throughout the world. But how Muslims will regained the lead and control of science and technology, leading back and become a leader in the world of science and civilization, because it represents a real achievement.

Mungkin seharusnya aku menulis buku motivasi saja, mengutip ucapan para tokoh besar dunia dan meramunya dengan sedikit kisah perjuanganku menggapai mimpi. Pasar pembaca seperti itu tampaknya lebih luas—ada terlalu banyak orang yang sebentar-sebentar harus disuapi dengan petuah-petuah untuk memulai hari mereka. Mereka akan dengan rakus membeli dan melahap setiap buku-bukuku. Kelaparan mereka akan mengisi penuh pundi-pundiku. Akan tetapi tanganku terasa kaku setiap aku hendak memulai. Bagaimana aku bisa menulis dan menjadi inspirasi buat banyak orang bila aku sendiri merasa hidupku membosankan—dan hidup dalam rasa frustrasi berkepanjangan?

Rakyat yang nasionalis hendaknya belajar menghemat energi. Pemimpin dan pemerintahan yang nasionalis hendaknya memikirkan cara-cara penghematan, bukan mengeksploitas sisa sumber daya alam yang kita miliki. Kembangkan sistem transportasi massal yang memadai, sehingga jumlah kendaraan di jalan raya berkurang. Dengan sendirinya pemakaian bahan bakar akan berkurang.Hentikan pembangunan menara-menara perkantoran dan apartemen-apartemen tinggi di perkotaan. Biarlah penghijauan di kota-kota besar tetap terpelihara. Pembangunan di daerah-daerah terpencil lebih diperhatikan. Biarlah orang di desa mendapatkan pekerjaan di desanya sendiri. Sehingga mereka tidak perlu menambah beban metropolis. Pembangunan harus merata, harus horizontal, tidak vertikal.

The widely mis-interpreted 1998 'meltdown' of East Asia was a financial symptom of the renewed reality: In fact, it was the first round the world recession again to begin in East Asia and spread from there to the West, instead of vice versa. That marked the beginnings of the return back 360 degrees around the world of the world economic center to Asia where it had always been before those two eighty-year period of temporary Western ascendance. The stock market crash in Hong Kong and the devaluation of the Thai baht and the Indonesian rupia took only 80 seconds to make themselves felt in the London City and on New York's Wall Street. How much of a cultural lag do we still need for popular perception and social theory to catch up with global reality?

Among them was a middle-aged man supported by two broken sticks. His legs were bent permanently beneath him by accident or disease, and it took him five minutes to cross the room, collect his ballot and shuffle into the booth in front of me. It was painful to watch; as he edged forward I became aware that my heart was racing. Finally - finally - the referendum really was under way. What would happen next? Could Eurico and Basilio have more support than I had assumed? How could the violence of the last seven months fail to have an effect? I should have looked away, but I watched, and saw the man on sticks painstakingly mark his cross in the lower of the two boxes, the one rejecting continuing association with Indonesia. Then he folded the paper, turned his legs around, and began walking slowly towards the ballot box.

Indonesia ini memang negeri yang unik, penuh dengan hal-hal yang seram serius, tetapi penuh dagelan dan badutan juga. Mengerikan tapi lucu, dilarang justru dicari dan amat laku, dianjurkan, disuruh tetapi malah diboikot, kalah tetapi justru menjadi amat populer dan menjadi pahlawan khalayak ramai, berjaya tetapi keok celaka, fanatik anti PKI tetapi berbuat persis PKI, terpeleset tetapi dicemburui, aman tertib tetapi kacau balau, ngawur tetapi justru disenangi, sungguh misterius tetapi gamblang bagi semua orang. Membuat orang yang sudah banyak makan garam seperti saya ini geleng-geleng kepala tetapi sekaligus kalbu hati cekikikan. Entahlah, saya tidak tahu. Gelap memprihatinkan tetapi mengandung harapan fajar menyingsing......(menyanyi) itulah Indonesia. Menulis kolooom selesai.["Fenomena PRD dll," dalam Politik Hati Nurani, hlm. 28].

Dalam sepanjang hidupnya dia tak pernah marah-marah. Memang hatinya sering disakiti orang dan dia jengkel. Namun sampai memaki atau membentak dengan kata tak senonoh, tak pernah dia lakukan. Dia adalah seorang dokter. Golongan elit yang terhormat. Dan semua perilaku yang menjengkelkan dari orang yang dihadapinya, dipandangnya sebagai tingkah orang sakit. Apa pun macam perangai orang, dia tak pernah sampai marah. Tidak ada orang yang sehat melakukan kesalahan, pikirnya. Orang yang mencuri, merampok, berkelahi, dan bahkan membunuh, jahat, dan zalim tentulah karena sakit. Kalau bukan karena sakit, karena apa lagi orang-orang demikian? Seperti juga orang-orang sakit pada fisiknya menderita karena penyakit turunan atau karena penularan dari luar. Demikian juga penyakit mental atau jiwa seseorang. Pastilah dapat diobati kalau diagnosa dan terapinya kena, apalagi bila diobati pada saat yang dini. Demikian juga pada kejiwaan seseorang. Pandangan hidup seperti itu menyebabkan hidupnya bisa tenteram dan banyak orang menghormatinya.

.... Dan semua itu berjalan dari detik ke detik, hari ke hari. Akhirnya orang jadi biasa juga dengan keadaannya. Dan mereka, yang tidak kena kerja paksa, tidur sehari-harian, atau berjalan-jalan mengedari pelataran dalam yang sempit itu, mengelamun, berangan-angan. Ya itu pun berjalan saja dan berjalan saja. Kadang-kadang orang tak sempat menginsyafi apa sesungguhnya yang telah dialami sehari-harian. Tapi dengan pasti hidupnya telah gompal sejam demi sejam. Kadang-kadang orang tidak sempat mengenangkan hari-depannya. Orang lebih suka memikirkan hal-hal yang dekat-dekat: makan, buang air, nyanyi, mengobrol tak berkeputusan, memaki-maki, atau mengaduh dengan tiada maksud. Atau-orang memikirkan sesuatu yang jauh, yang besar, yang takkan tercapai oleh tenaga dan tangan manusia-terutama sekali manusia yang dipenjarakan.Kemudian..Kemudian semua berjalan saja. Berjalan saja. Berjalan saja. Juga umur manusia berjalan mendekati akhirnya. Juga balatentara kedua belah pihak berjalan mendekati keruntuhan atau kemenangannya. Dan tak ada tangan manusia yang kuasaa membatalkan proses itu ...

1. Bangladesh.... In 1971 ... Kissinger overrode all advice in order to support the Pakistani generals in both their civilian massacre policy in East Bengal and their armed attack on India from West Pakistan.... This led to a moral and political catastrophe the effects of which are still sorely felt. Kissinger’s undisclosed reason for the ‘tilt’ was the supposed but never materialised ‘brokerage’ offered by the dictator Yahya Khan in the course of secret diplomacy between Nixon and China.... Of the new state of Bangladesh, Kissinger remarked coldly that it was ‘a basket case’ before turning his unsolicited expertise elsewhere.2. Chile.... Kissinger had direct personal knowledge of the CIA’s plan to kidnap and murder General René Schneider, the head of the Chilean Armed Forces ... who refused to countenance military intervention in politics. In his hatred for the Allende Government, Kissinger even outdid Richard Helms ... who warned him that a coup in such a stable democracy would be hard to procure. The murder of Schneider nonetheless went ahead, at Kissinger’s urging and with American financing, just between Allende’s election and his confirmation.... This was one of the relatively few times that Mr Kissinger (his success in getting people to call him ‘Doctor’ is greater than that of most PhDs) involved himself in the assassination of a single named individual rather than the slaughter of anonymous thousands. His jocular remark on this occasion—‘I don’t see why we have to let a country go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible’—suggests he may have been having the best of times....3. Cyprus.... Kissinger approved of the preparations by Greek Cypriot fascists for the murder of President Makarios, and sanctioned the coup which tried to extend the rule of the Athens junta (a favoured client of his) to the island. When despite great waste of life this coup failed in its objective, which was also Kissinger’s, of enforced partition, Kissinger promiscuously switched sides to support an even bloodier intervention by Turkey. Thomas Boyatt ... went to Kissinger in advance of the anti-Makarios putsch and warned him that it could lead to a civil war. ‘Spare me the civics lecture,’ replied Kissinger, who as you can readily see had an aphorism for all occasions.4. Kurdistan. Having endorsed the covert policy of supporting a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq between 1974 and 1975, with ‘deniable’ assistance also provided by Israel and the Shah of Iran, Kissinger made it plain to his subordinates that the Kurds were not to be allowed to win, but were to be employed for their nuisance value alone. They were not to be told that this was the case, but soon found out when the Shah and Saddam Hussein composed their differences, and American aid to Kurdistan was cut off. Hardened CIA hands went to Kissinger ... for an aid programme for the many thousands of Kurdish refugees who were thus abruptly created.... The apercu of the day was: ‘foreign policy should not he confused with missionary work.’ Saddam Hussein heartily concurred.5. East Timor. The day after Kissinger left Djakarta in 1975, the Armed Forces of Indonesia employed American weapons to invade and subjugate the independent former Portuguese colony of East Timor. Isaacson gives a figure of 100,000 deaths resulting from the occupation, or one-seventh of the population, and there are good judges who put this estimate on the low side. Kissinger was furious when news of his own collusion was leaked, because as well as breaking international law the Indonesians were also violating an agreement with the United States.... Monroe Leigh ... pointed out this awkward latter fact. Kissinger snapped: ‘The Israelis when they go into Lebanon—when was the last time we protested that?’ A good question, even if it did not and does not lie especially well in his mouth.It goes on and on and on until one cannot eat enough to vomit enough.