In Memoriam: Bambang Kismono Hadi

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His last days

I was in Detroit when I received a short message from Dr. Annisa Jusuf (cordially known as Bu Icha, an associate professor at ITB and a colleague of Prof. Bambang). The message came early, at 5:33 A.M., on November 25, 2024, in the cold winter. She forwarded a message saying, “Prof. Bambang Kismono was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Borromeus Hospital Bandung…”

Bambang was lying unconscious in the ICU on Level 4 of Borromeus Hospital. At that instant, I calmly responded, believing that he would be better as soon as the doctors at Borromeus attended to his critical condition. I started to inquire about the cause of his condition. She helped gather some information, saying that a stroke had hit him. His other medical histories were primarily known to Bambang and his immediate family, which was understandable, as I knew him as a private person. However, I prayed for his recovery, reciting Yaa-sin, one surah in the Quran, and hoping that God the Almighty would ease his suffering. Despite all efforts exerted to his recovery, Prof. Bambang passed away on Monday, December 2, 2024, at 7:13 PM local time. He was 64 years old and survived by his wife, Erly. They had no children. My wife, who was with me at the time, helped me search for a variety of flowers and sent them to his home address, Jl. Sangkuriang S-3, RT 02/RW 12, Kompleks ITB, Bandung.

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, Borromeous Hospital delivered his body at 8 A.M. to Salman Mosque, receiving a salat al-mayyit, an Islamic funeral prayer for the deceased. At 9:30 A.M., his body was delivered to the Aula Barat ITB (West Wing of ITB), which is located across the street from the Salman Mosque. It was heartwarming to see the photos that showed so many people attending this prayer and paying tribute to him for the last time. He was buried in the Cibarunai Public Memorial Park, Sukajadi, Bandung.

Personal life

Bambang was born on September 4, 1960, in Yogyakarta, a special province around Central Java. I knew very little about him except that he was the eldest among his siblings. His parents, either one or both, were teachers, so he grew up in a family of educators. He went to study at SMAN 1, one of the best high schools in Yogyakarta. He was admitted to ITB’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1979. During his college years, he enjoyed reading books and writing articles for the newspaper, for example, Sinar Harapan.

Academic life

Bambang’s interest in academics was likely nurtured by Prof. Sulaeman Kamil, a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at ITB. Not only that, Bambang was closely trained by Prof. Sulaeman Kamil, who served as the Director of Technology at the Nusantara Aircraft Industry (Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara, IPTN) in Bandung, to take over the baton for the development of composite materials at ITB for the years to come. Kamil, who completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University in 1977, took an introductory course about composite materials and manufacturing methods in the early 1970s from Prof. Henry R. Velkoff (a close friend of Igor Sikorsky, a renowned helicopter designer in the U.S.). Moreover, Kamil met Prof. Huba Ory from Germany, who delivered a seminar on composites analysis when he visited ITB and IPTN. Kamil continued his interest by taking a one-week course on composite materials with Prof. Stephen Tsai at Stanford University in California. As his interest in composites grew, he assigned Bambang to work on the undergraduate final-year project, developing finite element codes written in Fortran to analyze the stress distribution in open-hole composite specimens with different ply orientations.

Bambang received an Insinyur (Ir.) degree, equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in engineering, in 1986. After that, he worked at ITB as a young lecturer between 1987 and 1989. In 1989, he completed his advanced course in composites manufacturing at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the Netherlands. He then enrolled at Imperial College London, UK, in 1990. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, in 1991 and 1995, respectively. He returned to ITB in 1996.

Administrative work at ITB

In addition to teaching and research duties, he was very active in the administrative side of the university, within and outside ITB. He had the opportunity to be assigned to hold various posts. He was appointed as the secretary of the department (associate department head) from 2001 to 2003 and as head of the department from 2003 to 2005. He was involved in winning the research proposal with Prof. Ichsan Setya Putra on the buckling of a structure project. Bambang’s interest in the military and defense enabled him to join an exceptional team that established a defense study program at ITB, with support from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom and Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen in Germany. He also joined a special team to establish the Indonesia Defence University (Universitas Pertahanan) in Bogor from 2009 to 2011. In 2013, he served as the faculty senate secretary for the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. During his service at ITB, he was awarded various decorations. He received a dedication award from ITB for his dedication: Satya Lancana Karya Satya (SLKS) for 10-year dedication (August 19, 2004), SLKS for 20-year dedication (August 6, 2013), ITB Award for 25-year dedication (August 14, 2014), SLKS for 30-year dedication (August 13, 2020), and ITB Award for 35-year dedication (July 29, 2024).

Learning from him

I vividly remember enjoying his “Analysis of Lightweight Structures” course. I kept applying for another course of his. I was enrolled in his “Mechanics of Composites Structures” course, and I went on to take an elective course from him, titled “Theory of Structural Stability.” I thoroughly enjoyed and loved all the courses that he taught. The way he delivered the course was, to me, at least, a storytelling style. Of course, it was filled with mathematical formulation. Still, finding someone who patiently wrote a long-winding derivation and reached a closed-form solution was enjoyable.

Bambang as a thesis advisor

I had an unusual reason for selecting Bambang as my academic supervisor for my final-year undergraduate project. It was due to his patience and unassuming traits, rather than his initial expertise in composites and buckling. He spoke with a soft intonation characteristic of people originally from Central Java, which was diametrically different from mine. His soft-spoken style was periodically flavored with excitement, fun expression, and optimism. People would enjoy talking with him on a variety of topics. I personally enjoyed our conversation.

In August 2001, I went to his office with my close friend, Ade Fajar. Our intention was to take one project and work on the undergraduate thesis. Ade Fajar was assigned to work on the finite element analysis of sandwich panels subjected to a concentrated load. His objective was to calculate the deformation of the dimple caused by the concentrated load. The topic for Ade Fajar was selected by Bambang from a proceeding paper written by Prof. Meyer-Piening from ETH Zurich. I remember Bambang telling us about his conference trip to Switzerland with his wife. It was simply a beautiful country. However, my thesis topic was less clear. Bambang asked me if I could visit UAVINDO, a small startup located at ITB, and find a topic related to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to work on. Before that, I visited Prof. Djoko Sardjadi, the director of UAVINDO. He told me I should talk to Jupriyanto, a recent ITB graduate who worked at UAVINDO, handling a structural/material subject related to unmanned aerial vehicles. Jupriyanto was a kind, helpful, and knowledgeable person. He told me I should work on the stress analysis of the UAV composite wing structure. I was advised to use the ‘Bruhn method’ to calculate the stresses at the skin of the wing structure. I diligently worked on the project and performed all the calculations in Microsoft Excel (something that UAVINDO would eventually like to have).

Two things struck me out of the blue, making me consider changing the subject. First, whenever I met Prof. Bambang for advice with Ade Fajar, I did not see the excitement in his eyes. I would guess that stress analysis using the Bruhn method was not unique. He liked something unique. Whenever I saw him looking at the finite element results that Ade Fajar brought, he was ecstatic. It was a completely different game. The second thing was a bit of a change from the UAVINDO side. Prof. Djoko Sardjadi told me that he was more interested in the crashworthiness of the UAV wing structure. He advised me to speak with Prof. Bambang and asked me how to proceed with the graduation. The additional work would take an extra semester to complete.

Prof. Bambang said I could work on something else, as crashworthiness was not his area of expertise at the time. Moreover, he said I should be a PhD student if I wanted to continue on that path. Ultimately, the conclusion was that I had dropped the ball on the UAV stress analysis. I knew that there would be some disappointment from the UAVINDO side. But working on something that was not my league or interest was hard for me. I spoke with Jupriyanto about this, and he completely respected that decision. Prof. Bambang discussed the change with Prof. Djoko, and he seemed to understand it. Then, my “life” changed in January after my short break in December 2001.

Adventure in the sandwich world

My new topic was the buckling of sandwich structures. This time, he again showed me the proceeding paper that Prof. Meyer-Piening had written. He asked me if I could model the face sheet wrinkling of a sandwich structure subjected to compressive loading, similar to what Prof. Meyer-Piening has in the paper. He handed me several documents about the buckling and wrinkling of sandwich structures, most of which were his own, published in Composite Structures, one of the reputable journals in composites. I told him I was interested in the topic, although I was unsure if I could solve it. But I would try.

He had a new position as a department secretary at that time, so he occupied a new office on the third floor. His office on the fourth floor was thus empty. He told me that I could use the latest computer and his room. He obtained the computer from Prof. Ichsan Setya Putra as part of their project on buckling aircraft structures with patches. M. Ridha, my cohort friend who completed his thesis 6 months earlier, helped me install the computer. We then installed the finite element software MSC.Nastran for Windows v. 45. I went to Ade Fajar’s house and learned from him about building a 3D finite element model in MSC.Nastran. It ran well on his PC. Ade Fajar, who attained his degree in December 2001, was busy looking for a job. Sometimes, I saw him on campus, and I took the opportunity to consult with him about my finite element model. He kindly helped me with a few things in the model. At that time, Prof. Bambang advised another student, Indra Hastoadi Nugroho. He worked on the deformation of the fuselage cross-section (made of a sandwich structure) due to internal pressure. I recall that he achieved a reasonably good result compared to the existing literature. So, he passed the exam held sometime in May or June 2002.

I worked on buckling the sandwich structure between January and May 2002. However, for 3 months, I could not get a good result (at all!). There was always an error message after running the simulation for 20 to 40 hours. Meanwhile, Prof. Bambang, who was understandably excited about the outcome, would constantly come to me every day and ask if I had a new result. The answer was predictable: I had not obtained a good result.

He was actually more patient than I was. He advised me to send emails to three people who were considered experts in buckling sandwich structures at that time: Prof. Meyer-Piening (ETH Zurich), Dr. Ing. Walter Vonach (Vienna University of Technology), and Dr. Linus Fagerberg (a PhD candidate in KTH Sweden at that time). All of them kindly helped me with my problems despite my limited English. In addition, I also contacted Dr. Erwan Karyadi (an Indonesian gentleman who worked at MSC.Dytran, the Netherlands). I made frequent contact with them, who provided me with numerous suggestions on developing my FE models.

Finally, I obtained reasonably good results in April and made my way to speed up all the computations I had to run. I wrote my thesis in three weeks and defended it in June 2002. I was happy to have graduated and received my degree. After the defense, they advised me to pursue a master’s or PhD degree overseas. Prof. Ichsan offered me to study at one of the universities in Japan (Toyohashi Institute of Technology), South Korea (Konkuk University), Taiwan (I can’t remember the name), or Singapore (National University of Singapore). I chose the National University of Singapore. That morning, my brother, who was waiting outside the seminar room, entered the room, shook my hand, and took a photo of me, Prof. Bambang, and Dr. M. Giri Suada.

To be continued…

Inside the Kingdom

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1

Raja Arab Saudi terbiasa dengan puisi. Demikian halnya Raja Khalid bin Abdulaziz (1919-1982), raja ke-5 dinasti Al-Saud. Pada 1979, sang raja dan majelisnya mendengarkan seorang lelaki tua Beduin mengumandangkan sebait puisi dengan diksi sederhana:

Wahai cinta kami,

Wahai Khalid, raja kami,

Wahai singa gurun,

Ikrar-ikrarmu kami melantun …

Robert Lacey, sejarawan Inggris, mengutip bait itu di dalam bukunya “Inside the Kingdom” (2009) —  sebuah buku pengganti “The Kingdom” (1981) yang dulu kena cekal. Lacey seolah menulis standard operating procedure bagi diplomat Barat yang hendak dikirim ke Arab Saudi – semacam diskursus yang dikemas dalam bahasa yang apik. Esai-esai di dalamnya berisi suara ‘orang dalam’, diangkat dari konflik dan perbedaan di sebuah negeri yang eksistensinya (secara teoretik) kerap melawan logika dan historiografi. Buku itu memang mengupas konflik dan perbedaan sebagai penyebab benturan yang-religius dan yang-profan, yang kadang menumbuhkan radikalisme dan terorisme. Sebut saja kisah pengebom Masjidil Haram, Al-Qaeda, Sunni-Shia, jihad. Sebagai biografer, ia tentu juga menulis soal Raja Abdullah dan visi Saudi. Yang menarik tentunya, satu epilog dalam Inside the Kingdom yang bernafas optimisme: KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), sebuah muara di mana dunia Barat dan dunia Timur (Tengah) bertemu.

2

Sebuah ruang baca (perpustakaan) di Baghdad itu milik Harun Al-Rashid (766-809). Orang ramai tahu bahwa Harun adalah kalifah paling terkemuka dinasti Abbasiyah (dari garis keturunan paman Nabi Muhammad SAW, Abbas bin Abdul Muthalib). Harun adalah diplomat prolifik yang punya koneksi luas: hubungan diplomatiknya kuat dengan Charles the Great yang mendominasi Eropa pada abad pertengahan. Anaknya, Ma’mun, menyulap perpustakaan itu menjadi bentuk yang lebih megah dan formal: Graha Kearifan (House of Wisdom; Baitul Hikmah). Graha ini menjadi forum akademik umat Muslim, Kristen dan Yahudi dalam mengembangkan ilmu pengetahuan: astronomi, matematika, kimia, kartografi, biologi, farmasi. Kitab-kitab Yunani diterjemahkan, filsafat pun dipelajari. Eropa memang tak masuk hitungan — ia sedang mengarungi Abad Kegelapan, di mana konflik berdarah dan penyakit endemik melanda.

Namun, 350 tahun berlalu dan jutaan dokumen ilmu pengetahuan itu dimusnahkan oleh Mongolia pada 1258. Sebagian yang tersisa dibawa ke Eropa. Dan, kita semua tahu bahwa peradaban akhirnya bermigrasi ke Barat.

3

Kisah itu, bagi sebagian kalangan ilmuwan muslim, sungguh mengecilkan hati dan menghancurkan kepercayaan diri. Namun, kisah itu malah membuat Raja Abdullah (1924-2015) berambisi membangun kembali peradaan Islam. Lacey melihat KAUST sebagai ambisi ‘romantik’ sang raja. Tapi, sebaliknya, raja melihat bahwa Baitul Hikmah adalah episenter peradaban dengan karakteristik ‘toleransi dan ilmu pengetahuan’ yang berpadu. Lacey juga menulis bahwa KAUST merupakan respon sang raja terhadap aspek totalitarian dari paham Salafi. KAUST perlu menstimulasi perubahan Arab Saudi soal konsep pendidikan tinggi – yang kian lamban di bawah Kementerian Pendidikan.

Sebuah tempat yang sejuk tentu nyaman didiami. Raja Abdullah awalnya ingin membangun KAUST di dataran tinggi Taif, sebelah timur Mekkah yang hijau dan dingin. Namun, pelbagai pengaruh datang. KAUST akhirnya dipindah ke desa nelayan bernama Thuwal (90 km utara kota Jeddah).

Pada 2007, Raja Abdullah bersikap unik: mengunjungi KAUST dengan bus mewah bersama rombongan. Alih-alih terbang via helikopter, ia ingin menikmati tawa, canda dan nyanyian di atas jalan tol. Ini memang kerepotan tersendiri bagi protokol: penjagaan sepanjang gurun antara Jeddah dan Thuwal diperketat.

Raja Abdullah diantar terlebih dahulu ke KAEC (King Abdullah Economic City). Sesampainya di sana, sang raja sigap bertanya: “Mana universitasnya?” Ketika protokol menjawab bahwa KAEC adalah tempat transit untuk prosesi penyambutan saja, raja segera berbalik ke bus. Ia minta segera diberangkatkan ke Thuwal. Kontingen penyambutan kontan melongo – sambil diterpa sepoi-sepoi angin gurun yang kering …

Sesampainya di KAUST, raja hanya melihat perataan tanah dan pohon-pohon kurma saja. Ia kemudian melihat denah cetak biru KAUST, sambil pura-pura tertarik. Ia kemudian kembali ke bus, dan meluncur ke Jeddah. Hari itu, rute Thuwal-Jeddah sungguh muram. Anggota keluarga yang mengenalnya belum pernah melihat sang raja marah dan tertekan seperti itu – meski dalam khidmat dan santunnya. Ia hanya punya satu keinginan: profesor dan mahasiswa sudah lalu lalang pada bulan September 2009 di kampus bernama KAUST.

Raja kembali ke tempat peristirahatan di Jeddah. Matahari terbenam, dan ia sholat maghrib di sebuah masjid pribadi di tepi laut merah. Ia menyendiri malam itu. Doanya lebih lama dari biasanya.

Dua tahun berlalu. Tepat September 2009, KAUST dibuka untuk mahasiswa.

Serap ajarannya

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Sebenarnya tulisan ini diturunkan supaya blog ini punya postingan pada tahun 2017 ini. Dapat dibayangkan bahwa orang itu sibuknya (atau macak sibuk?) bukan main di KAUST sehingga menulis merupakan hal “mewah”. Alasannya sederhana. Alokasi energi menulis esai dialihkan ke menulis paper ilmiah sebagai mata uang di KAUST. Seolah sudah menjadi norma bahwa orang bertanya ini secara konstan “Sudah nulis paper berapa di KAUST?”

Langsung menuju topik: “Serap ajarannya”. Dari mana topik ini berasal? Sebuah foto Gus Dur berisi hal ini. Bisa dibaca di bawah ini.

20c40-1512544_10202801974241521_1378132248_n

Ketika tinggal di Arab Saudi beberapa tahun terakhir ini saya mengoleksi thobe (mirip gamis) yang berlengan panjang dan pendek. Alasannya, kayaknya keren juga berpakaian a la Arab seperti itu ya … atau sekedar bersikap konformal dengan khalayak lelaki ketika pergi ke Mekkah. Rasanya memang sejuk memakai thobe itu. Apakah thobe itu termasuk budaya Arab? Barangkali iya. Iklim gurun yang terik ini memang membuat orang ingin pakaian yang sejuk. Itu pakaian/busana. Ada juga bahasa. Ketika di Arab Saudi, sedikit banyak kita memakai bahasa Arab untuk berkomunikasi dengan penjual setempat (meski sebenernya mereka lebih fasih berbahasa Indonesia jika kebetulan ke Mekkah atau Madinah). Tapi di kota selain dua itu, bahasa Arab rasanya jamak. Eh, Jeddah mungkin termasuk kosmopolitan, jadi Inggris adalah umum.

Sebagai orang Jawa yang hidup di Arab Saudi, saya masih resistan untuk memakai bahasa Arab yang sepotong-sepotong. Padahal bahasa Arab ini penting. Maksud saya, jika berbahasa Arab sebaiknya berbahasa Arab-lah secara penuh, tidak hanya secuil, misal memakai ana-antum. Ini semacam inferioritas bahasa yang pada gilirannya menghilangkan budaya dan bahasa sendiri. Implikasinya luas. Jika mau berbahasa Jawa, pakailah kalimat penuh dalam bahasa Jawa. Jika mau berbahasa Jerman, pakailah kalimat penuh berbahasa Jerman. Begitu seterusnya. Ini menunjukkan penguasaan bahasa, bukan penghilangan budaya. Gus Dur yang fasih berbahasa Arab tentunya tidak anti bahasa Arab. Dia hanya kuatir bahwa pemakaian yang sepotong-sepotong ini diikuti banyak orang (dimaklumi dan dipopulerkan) yang pada gilirannya menghapus kata yang tadinya milik sendiri. Milik bangsa sendiri. Seolah memberikan sepetak sawah kepada orang asing. Lama-lama satu desa mendadak etnis luar semua. Kaget gak?

Maka dari itu, jika seseorang memeluk agama tertentu, misal Islam, serap saja ajarannya. Nah ajaran ini apa saja? Tentu yang ditulis dalam kitabnya. Juga hadits (kata-kata dan perbuatan Nabi Muhammad), kitab-kitab lain. Ajaran ini tentunya bernilai universal, berlaku di mana saja, berbagai jaman. Serap ajarannya. Bukan serap budayanya. Kecuali kita sebelumnya memang tidak berbudaya lho ya …. hehe.

31 Juli 2017

 

 

Language

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My son is now 9 years old, and approaching his 10th. He is in Grade 4. When I was his age, I was in the 4th grade as well. I felt it was a challenging year, as most subjects underwent drastic changes from one-directional instruction (teacher to students) to group discussions (plus teamwork) and active pupil involvement in all subjects. But that is not what I want to say here.
At 9 years old, it never occurred to me that I would leave my hometown (to go abroad is of the lowest importance as to go to heaven). It is a small town, perhaps one of the smallest in my province. It is on Java Island (a densely populated island in Indonesia due to fertile soils, agricultural products, educational institutions, industry, and most of all, the capital). However, still… the sphere of influence from larger cities was just a minute tremor in the night: simply ignored. I love living in my hometown. No mobile phones or gadgets, no games, and 1 hour of TV daily. The meaning of a “day” is just school, friends (with their unique or occasionally erratic characters), playing outdoors (on the river, hills, mountains, or beaches), and parents (not sure why I put it last). Living in the vicinity of two 3000-m mountains with a temperature range of 15-24 °C, and with a polarized vibrancy within 3 x 3 km² (2700 people), who would leave this town? Everyone recognized everyone (mostly faces, but not names – everyone was referred to by their titles: Pak, Bu, Mas, Mbak, which roughly translated to Mr., Mrs., Bro., and Sist). It is simple yet very mundane at times. The languages spoken were only three: Indonesian, Java, and Madura. English was popularized by the school and small cinema (which is now in paradise – a.k.a. dead!). No one spoke in English; a few foreigners from Europe, America, and Australia dropped by (and by then, I realized that God really created various kinds of humans, not only in the movie).
At the age of 9, it never occurred to me why I would leave my hometown. But now I realize that the reason is simple: because of the hometown itself. It would not be called “home” if you never went. You should go. Go, see the rest of the world, and come back someday. It is two directions: you call it home, and home accepts you (wherever you may be).
Unlike me, my son doesn’t have a hometown. His home is the house we rent. It is a consequence of being a family traveler like us. It could be a popular culture we (the baby boomers, 90s, millennials) follow: as popular as a trailing spouse, a religion-based country (as an antithesis of the capitalist one), the nuclear family, Hermes handbags, or Donald Trump. But one thing remains: native language. It is his only home. It is the only thing that connects him to my hometown. Talking in his native language to him has recently become uneasy due to the inevitable multicultural KAUST that ‘forces’ him to speak English. That is why we speak Indonesian at home. Also, fortunately, Indonesians living in KAUST have a makan-makan culture (literally ‘eating together’) that instills the native language unconsciously in our children. As a family traveler, there’s no choice; the children need to experience the meaning of home, and it’s through the native language. Not to an extent that we should follow Søren Kierkegaard (since we are not philosophers who should advocate the importance of language): just talk in the native language as much as you can with your children.

2016: Review dan Terget

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Postingan pertama di tahun 2016! Tepat setahun lalu, saya menuliskan ‘mimpi-mimpi’ untuk tahun 2015. Apa yang ingin dicapai, dikerjakan, didapat. Sekarang saya ingin me-review mimpi atau target tersebut.

  • mendapat perpanjangan kontrak lagi √
  • menulis paper (targetnya 3 paper) √
  • mempelajari lebih dalam tentang dynamic properties of materials, viscoelastoplasticity x
  • nyicil nulis buku komposit bahasa Indonesia x
  • umroh rutin √
  • memperbanyak sholat berjamaah √
  • mendalami Qur’an √
  • sedekah, donasi √
  • belajar bahasa Arab x
  • mempunyai tabungan pendidikan dan pensiun yang cukup √
  • berinvestasi √
  • liburan musim panas √

Alhamdulillah kontrak diperpanjang lagi. Setidaknya bisa bernafas lega karena posisi kontrak memang meresahkan. Tapi ini sejalan dengan sifat kompetitif dari penelitian yang progresif dan tidak tentu (tergantung funding dan trend teknologi). Meskipun 2015 hanya terbit 1 paper (sebagai co-author), setidaknya menulis 1 paper sendiri (yang sampai hari ini masih under review), dan 3 paper lainnya (sebagai co-author). Total 5 paper. Ternyata belajar sesuatu yang baru seperti viscoelastoplasticity membutuhkan waktu yang tidak sedikit. Beberapa buku sudah diunduh, tapi waktu untuk membacanya tidak ada. Nyicil menulis buku tentang komposit dalam bahasa Indonesia juga tidak sempat. Motivasi untuk menulis buku komposit memang kurang kuat karena memang tidak mengajarkan komposit di kampus. Umroh diusahakan memang rutin tiap bulan, tetapi kadang kelewatan karena kesibukan saat weekend. Eh, tapi Nabi Muhammad aja cuma pernah umroh 4 kali dan haji 1 kali semasa hidupnya (dari buku “Shahih Bukhari”). Masa melebih nabi ya? He he. Mempunyai tabungan (meskipun sedikit) dan investasi lumayan tercapai (meski masih nyicil juga). Liburan sudah terlaksana meski dekat-dekat sekitaran sini.

Target 2016

  • Mendapat promosi atau perpanjangan
  • Liburan musim semi dan panas
  • Umroh rutin dan ziarah
  • Menulis 3 paper
  • Bisnis kecil-kecilan
  • Melanjutkan investasi dan menabung
  • Menulis buku tentang Jepang atau lainnya

 

Y.A.E.

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Saya ketemu Mas Yogi Ahmad Erlangga (Y.A.E.) tahun 1997. Saat itu saya masih mahasiswa baru di jurusan Teknik Penerbangan (PN) ITB. Di sela-sela penataran P4, para mahasiswa baru diberi kesempatan mengunjungi laboratorium, dan  Mas Yogi kebetulan mendampingi kami. Beliau sekilas menjelaskan tentang pesawat MIG-21 (pesawat tempur buatan Uni Sovyet yang dulunya, konon, laris manis) yang ada di lab. Beliau ngomongnya cepat – jadi orang mesti perhatian. Setelah itu, beberapa senior PN-93, termasuk Mas Yogi, menjelaskan mengenai kuliah-kuliah di Penerbangan (setidaknya memberi perspektif mahasiswa). Cerita-ceritanya terdengar menarik sekali. Tapi saat yang bersamaan kami segera sadar bahwa PN adalah jurusan (penuh) PR!

Selamat datang di PN.

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Waktu berlalu. Pada 2008, seorang kawan dekat mengajak serta mengembangkan Waviv Technologies di Bandung. Waviv Technologies mempunyai misi untuk memberikan layanan bagi perusahaan minyak dan gas dalam hal interpretasi data geofisika – dengan cara mengembangkan program numerik 2D bikinan Mas Yogi. Saya tertarik (meski tidak yakin bisa berkontribusi), dan diberi beberapa bacaan. Salah satu bahan bacaannya adalah disertasi S3 Mas Yogi. Seperti halnya disertasi keluaran TU Delft yang lain (yang kebetulan pernah saya baca tahun 2001/2002 seperti karya Dr Erwan Karyadi dan Dr Ade Jamal mengenai sandwich structures), kualitas disertasinya mengagumkan. Yang unik dari disertasi keluaran TU Delft: adanya “stellingen” (proposisi, usulan). Disertasi TU Delft biasanya memuat kurang lebih 10 proposisi. Mas Yogi menulis 11 proposisi – dari hal teknis sampai filsafat hidup atau keseharian belaka.

Nah, saya hanya terjemahkan stellingen Mas Yogi di sini (kalau menerjemahkan semua disertasinya bisa mabok!):

  1. Kita sangat memerlukan preconditioner siap pakai (tapi isinya tidak ketahuan, alias “black box”) untuk metode iteratif Krylov subspace. Akan tetapi, supaya solusi masalah tertentu cepat konvergen (mengerucut), seseorang seyogyanya tidak mengandalkan preconditioner-siap-pakai tersebut. Seseorang mesti merancang sendiri preconditioner yang khusus dipakai untuk masalah yang tengah dihadapinya.
  2. Untuk (memecahkan) persamaan Helmholtz, preconditioning mestinya tidak hanya memberikan hasil konvergen secara cepat (efficiency), tetapi juga tidak boleh terpengaruh oleh ukuran grid dan jumlah gelombang (robustness). Saat ini preconditioning yang efisien sudah tercapai, tetapi robustness masih menjadi tantangan utama.
  3. Aplikasi metode multigrid standard untuk (memecahkan) persamaan Helmholtz (juga masalah-tak-berbatas lainnya) berujung pada sulitnya proses smoothing dan koreksi grid kasar, dua pokok utama dalam multigrid. Agar berhasil mengembangkan metode multigrid yang baik, satu langkah kunci adalah mengembangkan smoothing yang tidak pasaran dan metode diskritisasi grid kasar.
  4. Meskipun multigrid sebenarnya efisien untuk pelbagai masalah, salah satu penyebab mengapa multigrid tidak masuk 10 algoritma terbaik adalah karena multigrid seringkali dipakai untuk preconditioner metode iterasi Krylov subspace, tapi tidak sebaliknya.
  5. Menurut Maxwell, 1856, semua ilmu matematika didasarkan pada hubungan antara hukum alam dan rumus menggunakan angka, sedemikian hingga setiap masalah fisis dapat disederhanakan sebagai penentuan kuantitas dengan mengoperasikan angka-angka. Dalam konteks ini, matematika numerik adalah ilmu matematika yang mengembangkan operasi-operasi sistematik untuk menentukan kuantitas secara akurat dan secepat mungkin.
  6. Kalimat “Tidak ada itu yang namanya makan siang gratis” berlaku juga untuk matematika. Untuk masalah numerik yang rumit, seseorang harus rela melakukan sejumlah besar perhitungan per iterasi sebagai harga yang harus dibayar agar perhitungannya cepat konvergen dengan iterasi yang sesedikit mungkin.
  7. Sebagian besar ilmuwan terkemuka masa lampau meninggalkan dua hal: karya-karya besar (yang dikagumi ilmuwan-ilmuwan penerusnya) dan masalah-masalah besar (yang membuat ilmuwan-ilmuwan itu kelimpungan).
  8. Ilmuwan religius mempercayai bahwa teks yang difirmankan (kitab suci) berisikan kebenaran absolut, dan ilmu pengetahuan seharusnya tidak berlawanan dengan firman. Tetapi, ilmu pengetahuan seringkali tidak selaras dengan interpretasi dari kitab suci. Dalam rangka mengembangkan ilmu pengetahuan dan menginterpretasikan kitab suci, manusia mengandalkan otaknya. Ketika kontradiksi (antara ilmu pengetahuan dan kitab suci) itu terjadi, hal pertama yang perlu dilakukan manusia adalah mengoreksi otaknya sendiri dan membuatnya bekerja (dengan baik).
  9. Kebanyakan orang Belanda menyangka bahwa mereka adalah satu-satunya bangsa di dunia yang menyajikan roti disertai mentega dan hagelslag (butiran coklat). Di Indonesia, hagelslag dikenal dengan nama meisis, yang terdengar seperti meisjes (kata Belanda yang artinya ‘gadis-gadis kecil’).
  10. Langit di Belanda selalu menampilkan ini: nuansa sehabis hujan, nuansa mau turun hujan, nuansa hujan beneran (The Holland Handbook, Nuffic, 1997).
  11. Di sebuah negara yang sepanjang tahun jarang terkena cahaya matahari, harga ‘cahaya matahari’ setara dengan (sekurangnya) satu bulan liburan di negara yang cahaya mataharinya berlimpah.

Haji dan Snouck Hurgronje

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Ibrahim lahir di Babilonia (kini selatan Baghdad, Iraq) dari seorang ayah penyembah berhala (idol) yang menolak keras ketika diajaknya menyembah Allah. Ayahnya bernama Tarikh, meski ada juga yang menyebutnya Azar. Tuhan sejak awal mengetahui bahwa Ibrahim adalah sosok yang tepat sebagai nabi. Ia menikah dengan Sarah yang mandul. Oleh sebab itu, ia menikahi Hajar yang kemudian melahirkan Ismail. Allah memerintahkan Ibrahim untuk menyembelih anaknya Ismail. Awalnya Ibrahim menolak, tetapi kemudian yakin atas perintah itu setelah Ismail mengikhlaskan dirinya. Sejarah ini menggambarkan kepatuhan seseorang kepada Allah di atas hal duniawi yang dicintainya, misal anak.

Sejarah itu kemudian melahirkan rukun Islam bernama haji. Sejak Muhammad meninggal, orang Islam terus melakukan ibadah haji pada hari ke 8-12 bulan Dzu al-hijjah. Kata “ibadah” merupakan perspektif yang dipakai muslim untuk menamakan haji. Namun, ketika haji diteliti orientalis, seperti misalnya Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), ia berubah nama menjadi “feest” atau semacam pesta perayaan. Esensinya tentu berbeda: yang satu melihatnya sebagai ritual suci untuk mendekatkan diri kepada Allah, yang satu lagi melihatnya sebagai orang ramai yang melakukan kegiatan non-transenden (seolah tuhan tak hadir di pusaran Ka’bah, Shafa-Marwah, Mina-Muzdalifah dan teriknya Arafah).

Meskipun kebencian sudah ditanamkan kepadanya sejak SD, sosok Snouck Hurgronje sendiri sebenarnya menarik. Snouck, bagi yang awam sejarah, adalah pegawai kolonial Belanda (semacam intelijen-peneliti), profesor di Leiden University dan pionir penelitian tentang Islam.

Christiaan_Snouck_HurgronjeChristiaan Snouck Hugronje

MeccaSH1885Mekah pada 1885 (foto oleh Snouck Hurgronje)

Kebencian-yang-ditanamkan itu agaknya memang beralasan. Kerajaan Belanda yang kehabisan dana dalam memerangi suku Aceh meminta Snouck untuk meneliti kehidupan para muslim Hindia Belanda (Jawa, Aceh, dan lainnya) di Mekah. Hasil penelitian itu kemudian mendasari strategi untuk memecah belah suku Aceh. Snouck yang mempertahankan disertasi berjudul “Het Mekkaansche feest” (Pesta Masyarakat Mekah, 1879) sebelumnya tak pernah ke Mekah – dan ia sudah menulis tentang Mekah (plus belajar bahasa Arab, Hebrew, Islamologi dan muslim yang disebut “Muhammadan” ketika itu) sebelum ke sana. Ia baru ke Mekah ketika mendapat jaminan Kerajaan Ottoman (yang ketika itu menduduki Arab Saudi) agar bisa melakukan penelitian (1884-1885). Sepulang dari Mekah (agaknya ia diusir dari jazirah Arab sebelum musim haji tiba karena mungkin kedoknya ketahuan), ia menulis sebuah buku fotografi berjudul “Mekka” yang judul panjangnya menjadi “Mekka in the Latter Part of 19th Century” (Brill). Lanjutan dari buku ini terus mendasari laporan-laporannya mengenai kehidupan Muhammadan (muslim) pribumi di Mekah, Aceh, Jawa, dan wilayah kolonial Belanda lainnya.

Snouck adalah salah satu orang yang pernah merekam suara orang membaca surat Ad-Dhuha di Mekah. LINK.

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