Going Home To Die

GOING HOME TO DIE Oleh: Jum’an Lalarosa (http://sehatperkasa.multiply.com) mengomentari posting sehatperkasa (http://sehatperkasa.multiply.com) yang berjudul “Kanker” sebagai berikut: Mengerikan sekali, tapi berapa banyak penderita yang menyadari bahwa itu bukan hanya sekedar penyakit melainkan azab. Lalu saya bertanya: Maksud anda azab seperti ‘azab dari Alloh'? dan beliau menjawab Ya. Saya menafsirkan bahwa Ibu Lala percaya bahwa kanker yang diderita sesorang adalah azab (hukuman) dari Alloh. Kalau saya salah menafsirkan, saya mohon maaf dan sekalikali bukan maksud saya untuk menyalahkan atau membenarkan pendapat seperti itu. Kemarin sore, TV Aljazeera menyiarkan konferensi pers Menteri Kehakiman Skotlandia Kenny MacAskill waktu membebaskan Abdul Bassit Ali al-Megrahi dari hukuman seumur hidup dengan alasan belas kasihan. Abdul Bassit adalah tertuduh peledakan pesawat PanAm tahun 1988 yang mengakibatkan 270 orang korban. Semasa dalam penjara ia menderita kanker prostate dan diperkirakan akan mati dalam waktu sebulan mendatang. Ia dipulangkan ke Libia dengan pesawat jet pribadi dan disambut sebagai pahlawan. Inilah kalimat terakhir MacAskill: ”Sekarang Megrahi menghadapi hukuman yang dijatuhkan oleh kekuatan yang lebih tinggi (Tuhan). Terminal, final dan tak dapat diubah. Dia akan mati” Menanggap kanker atau lepra sebagai azab, hukuman atau kutukan Tuhan merupakan hal yang pantas orang berbeda pendapat. Apakah azab, atau ujian, atau mungkin sebagai mekanisme Alloh membersihkan dosa-dosa penderitanya? Yang jelas perbedaan keyakinan baik dari sipenderita maupun orang luar akan mengakibatkan perbedaan sikap dalam merasakan atau menangani penyakit itu. Kalau lepra adalah kutukan Tuhan, maka kita dan pemerintah pasti enggan menggalakkan pemberantasan penyakit ini, dibanding kalau kita menganggapnya sebagai penyakit biasa yang diakibatkan oleh kecerobohan manusia. Ada bukti bahwa mereka yang lebih yakin bahwa manusia adalah sekedar ’wayang’ yang tergantung penuh kepada kemauan sang dalang, berbeda sikapnya dalam menghadapi kehidupan sehari-hari dibanding mereka yang menganut faham kebebasan. Yaitu mereka yang percaya bahwa nasib kira ditentukan oleh kemauan dan usaha kita sendiri. Sekelompok murid yang telah diindoktrinasi bahwa manusia sekedar wayang, diuji bersama kelompok lain yang tidak diindoktrinasi.

Kepada mereka diberikan tes matematik sederhana melalui komputer, seperti: 1 + 8 + 18 - 12 + 19 - 7 + 17 - 2 + 8 - 4 = X. Kepada mereka disampaikan bahwa komputer itu suka eror yaitu beberapa detik setelah pertanyaan itu muncul suka muncul jawaban soal itu. Untuk menghindari eror itu terjadi, begitu muncul pertanyaan setiap siswa diharapkan untuk menekan space bar agar jawaban itu tidak muncul. Komputer itu tidak hanya merekam jawaban soal, tetapi juga siapa yang menekan space bar dan siapa yang tidak. Hasilnya? Ternyata mereka yang mengimani bahwa manusia adalah wayang, lebih banyak yang tidak menekan space bar sehingga melihat jawabannya, lalu dicontek. Berbeda dengan kelompok yang tidak menerima indoktrinasi. Mereka segera menekan space bar, lalu menggunakan otaknya untuk menyelesaikan soal itu (http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily). Jadi kanker azab, cobaan atau apa? Wallohu a’lam.

The only man ever convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, is being released from prison. Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill made the announcement. Mr. KENNY MacASKILL (Justice Minister, Scotland): It is my decision that Mr. Abdel Basset Ali Mohmed alMegrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die.

"He may die sooner, he may live longer. I can only base my decision on the medical evidence before me," the justice secretary said at a news conference. "Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is terminal, final and irreversible. He is going to die."

Jubilant Crowd Greets Lockerbie Bomber The Lockerbie bomber has arrived home in Tripoli to be greeted by thousands of people waving Libyan and Scottish flags. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, had earlier boarded a plane at Glasgow airport after being released from HMP Greenock on compassionate grounds. He was freed by the Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, who said he made the decision because medical experts suggested the Libyan had less than three months to live. As Megrahi's plane touched down at a military airport in the Libyan capital, there was a festive atmosphere. Some of the crowd waiting to greet him waved flags, others were wearing t-shirts bearing his picture and Libyan songs blared. The scenes were condemned as "sickening" by Conservative MP David Mundell. "This is as we feared and why we said that Mr Megrahi should be kept in Scotland," he said. "Alex Salmond's government has made a mistake of international proportions. These reports are sickening." The 57-year-old was jailed for life after being convicted of killing 270 people - 189 of them American - when a Pan Am plane blew up over Lockerbie in December 1988. Following his release, Megrahi branded his conviction a "disgrace" and told of the injustice of his "horrible ordeal" as he heads home to Libya.

In a statement read by his lawyer, he expressed sympathy for the victims' families and said: "I cannot find words in my language or yours that give proper expression to the desolation I have felt. Lawyer Tony Kelly Reads Statement From Megrahi "This horrible ordeal is not ended by my return to Libya. "It may never end for me until I die. Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death. "And I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear: all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do." He went on: "The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction. "I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted." Announcing the decision to free al Megrahi, Mr MacAskill said: "Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. US FAMILY ANGER OVER THE RELEASE "It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule. It is terminal, final and irreversible. "He is going to die." The US, which has said it "deeply regrets" Scotland's decision, has urged Libya not to give him a "hero's welcome" on his return. President Obama described the Libyan's release as a "mistake" and said he should have been kept under house arrest. Meanwhile, Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson has said the Scottish Parliament will be recalled on Monday to debate Megrahi's release. Megrahi dropped an appeal against his conviction earlier this week, paving the way for his release. In an announcement which lasted more than 20 minutes, the justice secretary acknowledged Megrahi had shown no compassion to his victims.

I don't know how you show compassion to someone who has shown no remorse for what he has done. Kara Weipz, from New Jersey, who lost her student brother Rick But Mr MacAskill said: "That alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days." He added: "I am conscious there are deeply held feelings and that many will disagree whatever my decision. However a decision has to be made. "Scotland will forever remember the crime that has been perpetrated against our people and those from many other lands, the pain and suffering will remain forever. "Some hurt can never heal, some scars can never fade. Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive. "Their pain runs deep and the wounds remain." Mr MacAskill rejected a separate application by Megrahi to serve the rest of his sentence in Libya as part of a prisoner transfer.