Meningkatkan Kualitas Udara Kota Bandung

Udara Bandung saat ini semakin memburuk.

Hal ini beralasan bila kita lihat dari hasil penelitian Ir. Puji Lestari, Ph.D, peneliti spesialis polusi udara dari ITB. Hasil penelitian itu menyimpulkan, polusi udara di wilayah Kota Bandung sudah pada tingkat warning, di mana konsentrasi partikel-partikel pembentuk polusi udara seperti karbon (CO), timbal (Pb), sulfur (SO), dan jenis debu-debuan. Bahkan di beberapa daerah seperti Alun-alun dan kawasan Braga, kadar partikel pembentuk polusinya ada yang sudah melewati baku mutu lingkungan.

Terkait dengan pencemaran udara ini, data terbaru menyebutkan bahwa selama 310 hari atau 85 persen dari 365 hari dalam setahun, kualitas udara di Kota Bandung tergolong buruk karena berada di atas baku mutu. Data ini diperoleh dari stasiun pemantau otomatis yang digunakan untuk menghitung indeks standar pencemar udara /ISPU.

Kondisi tersebut tentu sungguh memprihatinkan. Situasi yang sangat terasa perubahan akibat terjadinya pencemaran udara tersebut adalah terjadinya perubahan suhu di Kota Bandung. Adanya perubahan tersebut, yang jelas bagi warga Bandung, mungkin telah merasakan adanya perubahan suhu di lingkungan tempat tinggalnya. Yakni terasa panas, kotor, berdebu, dan jauh dari semerbak harum bunga. Kondisi tersebut, ternyata diperparah lagi dengan minimnya tanaman yang ada di jalan-jalan Kota Bandung.

Pokoknya, kondisi jumlah pohon di Kota Bandung ini dirasakan masih sangat kurang. Bayangkan, pada tahun 2002 saja ketika jumlah penduduk Bandung sekira 2,5 juta jiwa ternyata jumlah pohonnya yang ada hanya sekira 1,25 juta. Jadi, bisa dibayangkan bagaimana kondisi jumlah pohon saat ini dengan banyaknya projek pelebaran jalan yang banyak menebang pohon seperti di Jalan Pasteur dan Jalan Suci?

Padahal, kalau kita telusuri dari literatur milik Haryoto Kunto (Wajah Bandung Tempo Dulu; 1985), disebutkan bahwa sekira akhir abad 19 dan awal abad 20, Bandung dihiasi berbagai taman seperti Taman Merdeka (Pieters Park) yang merupakan taman bunga pertama di Bandung (1885), Taman Sari (Jubileum Park) yang berupa hutan tropis mini, Taman Ganeca (Ijzerman Park), yang berupa kolam ikan dengan aneka bunga terate, Taman Maluku (Molukken Park), Taman Nusantara (Insulinde Park) serta beragam pohon pelindung jalan.

Dengan berkurangnya (pohon) taman-taman itulah, salah satu penyebabnya, yang menjadikan Kota Bandung tidak seindah dan senyaman tempo dulu lagi. Lebih jauh, ia bisa berakibat tingkat polusi dan penyakit paru-paru cukup tinggi. Singkatnya, kondisi hutan Kota Bandung benar-benar kritis, jauh dari angka ideal yang dibutuhkan warga kota yang telah mencapai lebih dari 2,3 juta jiwa. Istilah lainnya, wilayah Ruang Terbuka Hijau (RTH) di Kota Bandung ini masih sedikit. Dan saat ini paling tidak jumlah pohon pelindung sebanyak 229.649 pohon.

Padahal, idealnya jumlahnya 920.000 pohon pelindung atau 40 persen dari jumlah penduduk. Jumlah tersebut dihitung dengan rumusan jumlah penduduk x 0,5 kg oksigen x 1 pohon : 1,2 kg. (”GM”, 5/10/2000).
Fungsi tanaman di dalam kota

Kondisi yang sedemikian parah tersebut telah membuat banyak kalangan memprediksikan bahwa bila hal itu tidak segera ditangani dan ditanggulangi dengan baik, maka pohon di Kota Bandung diperkirakan kritis dalam waktu 5-10 tahun mendatang. Semoga hal ini tidak terjadi, karena tidak bisa kita bayangkan bagaimana nasib manusia, bila kadar oksigen di bumi ini berkurang?

Untuk itu, mari kita sambut, gemakan dan diimplementasikan secara nyata –lagi ajk– ide dari Bupati H. Obar Sobarna S.I.P., berupa “kewajiban” menanam pohon buah-buahan bagi calon pengantin, sebagai simbol dari membangun keluarga sakinah dan cinta lingkungan demi anak cucu kita kelak. Lebih jauh lagi, penulis setuju kalau tiap kepala keluarga menanam pohon minimal satu buah di lingkungannya masing-masing. Pokoknya, jangan biarkan ada tanah kosong di kiri-kanan dan depan-belakang rumah kita. Tanamlah pohon (buah-buahan). Karena pohon buah-buahan, tak hanya indah tapi juga menghasilkan sumber gizi.

Lebih jauh lagi, terkait dengan konteks fungsi tanaman dalam membantu menurunkan tingkat pencemaran udara di perkotaan, tentu hal itu tidak perlu disangsikan lagi. Sebab, tanaman merupakan bagian dari ekosistem kota yang keanekaragaman jenisnya tinggi. Paling tidak, tanaman di dalam kota ini mempunyai berbagai manfaat.

Pertama, fungsi ekologi. Secara sudut pandang ekologi, keberadaan pohon ini dapat berfungsi, di antaranya: (a) Sebagai penyerap gas/pertikel beracun. Tanaman dapat menyerap bermacam gas/partikel beracun yang mencemari udara. Gas tersebut antara lain adalah: (1) Gas CO2 (karbon dioksida), di mana berbagai jenis tanaman mempunyai kemampuan untuk menyerap gas CO2 melalui proses fotosintesis. (2) Gas NO2 (nitrogen dioksida), di mana gas ini termasuk paling toksik karena gas ini dapat menimbulkan iritasi pada paru-paru sehingga dapat merusak lapisan sel paru-paru, dan sumber pencemarnya adalah gas dari kendaraan bermotor terutama pagi hari antara pukul 6 sampai 9 pada saat terjadi reaksi fotokimia serta ruangan dapur yang menggunakan bahan bakar gas. (3) Gas SO2 (sulfur dioksida), di mana gas ini berasal dari industri pengecoran logam, pembangkit listrik batu bara, dan penggunaan bahan bakar fosil. (4) Partikel Pb, di mana kendaraan bermotor merupakan sumber utama Pb yang mencemari udara di perkotaan dan tiap-tiap jenis tanaman mempunyai kemampuan yang berbeda-beda dalam menurunkan kandungan Pb dari udara.

Fakuara (1990) menyatakan bahwa tanaman damar (Agathis alba), mahoni (Swietenia macrophylla), jamuju (Podocarpus imbricatus), pala (Mirystica fragrans), asam landi (Pithecelobium dulce), johar (Cassia siamea), mempunyai kemampuan sedang-tinggi dalam menurunkan kandungan timbal dari udara.

(b) Sebagai paru-paru kota. Selain tanaman mempunyai peranan di dalam menyerap gas beracun, tanaman juga menghasilkan gas oksigen pada waktu proses fotosintesis. Gas oksigen ini dibutuhkan oleh semua makhluk hidup untuk kelangsungan hidupnya. Karena tumbuhan berperan dalam menghasilkan gas oksigen maka tumbuhan dapat dianggap sebagai paru-parunya suatu kota.

(c) Sebagai pelestarian plasma nutfah. Plasma nutfah yang merupakan bahan baku penting untuk pembangunan di masa depan, terutama di bidang pangan, sandang, papan, obat-obatan dan industri, maka perlu sekali untuk dikembangkan dan dilestarikan bersama dengan mempertahankan keanekaragaman biologinya. Kawasan hutan kota misalnya, dapat dipandang sebagai areal pelestarian di luar kawasan konservasi karena pada areal ini dapat dilestarikan flora dan fauna secara ekssitu.

(d) Sebagai peredam kebisingan. Keberadaan tanaman di pinggir jalan ternyata dapat meredam suara dengan cara mengabsorpsi gelombang suara oleh daun, cabang, dan ranting. Jenis tanaman yang paling efektif untuk meredam suara ialah yang mempunyai tajuk yang tebal dengan daun yang rindang.

(e) Sebagai habitat burung. Masyarakat modern kini cenderung kembali ke alam (back to nature). Desiran angin, kicauan burung, dan atraksi satwa lainnya di kota diharapkan dapat menghalau kejenuhan dan stres yang banyak dialami oleh penduduk perkotaan. Salah satu satwa liar yang dapat dikembangkan di perkotaan adalah burung. Beberapa jenis burung sangat membutuhkan tanaman sebagai tempat mencari makan maupun sebagai tempat bersarang dan bertelur.

Kedua, fungsi ekonomi. Dari sudut ekonomi, tanaman secara langsung dapat digunakan sebagai bahan penghasil pangan terutama sebagai sumber buah-buahan dan sayuran. Selain itu, tanaman di kota berfungsi untuk memberi keindahan terutama golongan tanaman hias. Selain itu, tanaman hias dapat memberikan lapangan usaha kepada masyarakat. Harga satu jenis tanaman hias yang sedang tren dan banyak diminati oleh masyarakat harganya dapat mencapai ratusan ribu hingga jutaan rupiah seperti tanaman bonsai dan tanaman anggrek.

Ketiga, fungsi kesehatan dan lingkungan. Seperti telah diuraikan di atas bahwa tanaman itu dapat berperan di dalam menyerap gas beracun. Selain mempunyai peran dalam menyerap gas beracun, ternyata tanaman juga menghasilkan gas oksigen pada waktu fotosintesis. Dan kita tahu, keberadaan gas oksigen ini sangat dibutuhkan oleh semua makhluk hidup untuk kelangsungan hidupnya. Dan bahkan ada beberapa jenis tanaman yang dapat langsung dipakai untuk bahan obat seperti ketepeng (Cassia fistulosa), kumis kucing (Orthosiphon stamineus), jarak pagar (Jatropa curcas), dan jombang (Sonchus arvensis). Pokoknya, selain untuk bahan obat keberadaan tanaman itu dapat menciptakan lingkungan yang segar, bersih, nyaman, dan menciptakan panorama alam yang indah.

Keempat, fungsi psikologi. Secara psikologis, keberadaan tanaman ini mempunyai peran untuk menghilangkan ketegangan-ketegangan mental (stress) yang banyak diderita oleh penduduk kota. Kanopi tanaman yang bentuknya bulat, kerucut, pagoda, atau serupa jantung, bulat telur, bentuk ginjal adalah bentuk-bentuk yang menarik. Termasuk dengan bermacam warna bunga merah, kuning, ungu, biru dan warna daun yang hijau akan memengaruhi kejiwaan. Pokoknya, keberadaan tanaman itu dapat menciptakan lingkungan yang nyaman, segar, harum, menyenangkan dan sebagainya.

Kelima, fungsi pendidikan dan pengajaran. Keberadaan tanaman sebenarnya dapat juga kita jadikan sebagai objek pendidikan, pengajaran dan penelitian. Tanaman berguna untuk pendidikan dalam bidang Farmasi, Pertanian, Biologi, Peternakan, Kedokteran dan lainnya.

Merancang Dana Liburan (Feature)

Berlibur itu perlu, lho! Saat liburan kita bisa bebas melakukan berbagai aktivitas seru, sekaligus melepaskan penat dari rutinitas sehari-hari. Anda bisa mengisi liburan dengan bepergian keluar kota, berkunjung ke tempat saudara, atau bahkan sekadar diam di rumah sambil memanjakan hobi. Sayangnya, biarpun niatnya ingin tetap irit, biasanya Anda justru keluar uang lebih banyak. Ah, namanya juga liburan! Apalagi kalau berlibur keluar kota atau malah keluar negeri. Bisa-bisa dompet terkuras, dan pasca liburan, Anda bukannya makin segar, tapi malah jadi terbebani.

Lantas, bagaimana menyiasati liburan tanpa harus merogoh dana ekstra yang bikin Anda pusing kepala? Berikut beberapa tip “Smart Holiday” dari Ligwina Hananto, untuk mewujudkan liburan impian tanpa menimbulkan ’beban’ keuangan.

1. Buatlah rencana destinasi liburan impianmu, entah sekadar ke Bandung, Yogyakarta, atau ke Kuala Lumpur. Tetapkan kapan Anda akan melakukan liburan itu, apakah 6 bulan atau 3 tahun lagi.

2. Cobalah berburu informasi tentang tujuan berlibur pilihan Anda, mulai dari harga tiket hingga biaya akomodasi. Jangan lupa menyiapkan dana belanja, baik hanya sekadar untuk membeli cinderamata atau menambah koleksi tas dan sepatu.

3. Setelah mendapatkan perhitungan yang pas, mulailah membuat estimasi anggaran. Tak ada salahnya, kan, menyisihkan sebagian uang per bulan agar bisa terpenuhi dana liburan tepat pada waktu yang telah ditetapkan.

4. Jangan lupa untuk mencari paket liburan pada masa low season atau penawaran dari kartu kredit, seperti beli 1 gratis 1, maupun paket promosi lainnya.

5. Jika Anda masih memiliki utang yang perlu dibayar seperti utang kartu kredit, atau utang agunan kredit rumah, sepertinya kurang bijaksana untuk menikmati liburan yang butuh dana besar. Baiknya lunasi dulu utang-utang Anda, karena jika beban utang Anda sudah terlunasi pastinya Anda pasti akan merasa tenang. Sementara itu, cukup nikmati liburan ke tempat yang dekat-dekat saja. Liburan kan, tidak melulu harus jalan-jalan keluar kota? Anda juga bisa merancang acara liburan di rumah, seperti barbeque-an atau menonton DVD bareng sambil memesan delivery pizza. Dijamin suasana pasti tak kalah seru!

ASEAN (English)

ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN)

ESTABLISHMENT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
As of 2006, the ASEAN region has a population of about 560 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of almost US$ 1,100 billion, and a total trade of about US$ 1,400 billion.

OBJECTIVES
The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are: (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
The ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies.
In 2003, the ASEAN Leaders resolved that an ASEAN Community shall be established comprising three pillars, namely, ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
ASEAN Member Countries have adopted the following fundamental principles in their relations with one another, as contained in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC):
1. mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;
2. the right of every State to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion;
3. non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;
4. settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;
5. renunciation of the threat or use of force; and
6. effective cooperation among themselves.

ASEAN SECURITY COMMUNITY
Through political dialogue and confidence building, no tension has escalated into armed confrontation among ASEAN Member Countries since its establishment more than three decades ago.
To build on what has been constructed over the years in the field of political and security cooperation, the ASEAN Leaders have agreed to establish the ASEAN Security Community (ASC). The ASC shall aim to ensure that countries in the region live at peace with one another and with the world in a just, democratic and harmonious environment.
The members of the Community pledge to rely exclusively on peaceful processes in the settlement of intra-regional differences and regard their security as fundamentally linked to one another and bound by geographic location, common vision and objectives. It has the following components: political development; shaping and sharing of norms; conflict prevention; conflict resolution; post-conflict peace building; and implementing mechanisms. It will be built on the strong foundation of ASEAN processes, principles, agreements, and structures, which evolved over the years and are contained in the following major political agreements:
• ASEAN Declaration, Bangkok, 8 August 1967;
• Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality Declaration, Kuala Lumpur, 27 November 1971;
• Declaration of ASEAN Concord, Bali, 24 February 1976;
• Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Bali, 24 February 1976;
• ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea, Manila, 22 July 1992;
• Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, Bangkok, 15 December 1997;
• ASEAN Vision 2020, Kuala Lumpur, 15 December 1997; and
• Declaration of ASEAN Concord II, Bali, 7 October 2003.
In recognition of security interdependence in the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994. The ARF’s agenda aims to evolve in three broad stages, namely the promotion of confidence building, development of preventive diplomacy and elaboration of approaches to conflicts.
The present participants in the ARF include: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Democratic Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea (ROK), Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Viet Nam.
The ARF discusses major regional security issues in the region, including the relationship amongst the major powers, non-proliferation, counter-terrorism, transnational crime, South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula, among others.

ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
The ASEAN Economic Community shall be the end-goal of economic integration measures as outlined in the ASEAN Vision 2020. Its goal is to create a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN economic region in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and a freer flow of capital, equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities in year 2020.
The ASEAN Economic Community shall establish ASEAN as a single market and production base, turning the diversity that characterises the region into opportunities for business complementation and making the ASEAN a more dynamic and stronger segment of the global supply chain. ASEAN’s strategy shall consist of the integration of ASEAN and enhancing ASEAN’s economic competitiveness.
In moving towards the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN has agreed on the following:
• institute new mechanisms and measures to strengthen the implementation of its existing economic initiatives including the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) and ASEAN Investment Area (AIA);
• accelerate regional integration in the following priority sectors by 2010: air travel, agro-based products, automotives, e-commerce, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textiles and apparels, tourism, and wood-based products.
• facilitate movement of business persons, skilled labour and talents; and
• strengthen the institutional mechanisms of ASEAN, including the improvement of the existing ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism to ensure expeditious and legally-binding resolution of any economic disputes.
Launched in 1992, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is now in place. It aims to promote the region’s competitive advantage as a single production unit. The elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers among Member Countries is expected to promote greater economic efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness.
As of 1 January 2005, tariffs on almost 99 percent of the products in the Inclusion List of the ASEAN-6 (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) have been reduced to no more than 5 percent. More than 60 percent of these products have zero tariffs. The average tariff for ASEAN-6 has been brought down from more than 12 percent when AFTA started to 2 percent today. For the newer Member Countries, namely, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam (CLMV), tariffs on about 81 percent of their Inclusion List have been brought down to within the 0-5 percent range.
Other major integration-related economic activities of ASEAN include the following:
• Roadmap for Financial and Monetary Integration of ASEAN in four areas, namely, capital market development, capital account liberalisation, liberalisation of financial services and currency cooperation;
• trans-ASEAN transportation network consisting of major inter-state highway and railway networks, including the Singapore to Kunming Rail-Link, principal ports, and sea lanes for maritime traffic, inland waterway transport, and major civil aviation links;
• Roadmap for Integration of Air Travel Sector;
• interoperability and interconnectivity of national telecommunications equipment and services, including the ASEAN Telecommunications Regulators Council Sectoral Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ATRC-MRA) on Conformity Assessment for Telecommunications Equipment;
• trans-ASEAN energy networks, which consist of the ASEAN Power Grid and the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline Projects;
• Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) focusing on infrastructure, human resource development, information and communications technology, and regional economic integration primarily in the CLMV countries;
• Visit ASEAN Campaign and the private sector-led ASEAN Hip-Hop Pass to promote intra-ASEAN tourism; and
• Agreement on the ASEAN Food Security Reserve.

ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY
The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, in consonance with the goal set by ASEAN Vision 2020, envisages a Southeast Asia bonded together in partnership as a community of caring societies and founded on a common regional identity.
The Community shall foster cooperation in social development aimed at raising the standard of living of disadvantaged groups and the rural population, and shall seek the active involvement of all sectors of society, in particular women, youth, and local communities.
ASEAN shall ensure that its work force shall be prepared for, and benefit from, economic integration by investing more resources for basic and higher education, training, science and technology development, job creation, and social protection.
ASEAN shall further intensify cooperation in the area of public health, including in the prevention and control of infectious and communicable diseases.
The development and enhancement of human resources is a key strategy for employment generation, alleviating poverty and socio-economic disparities, and ensuring economic growth with equity.
Among the on-going activities of ASEAN in this area include the following:
• ASEAN Work Programme for Social Welfare, Family, and Population;
• ASEAN Work Programme on HIV/AIDS;
• ASEAN Work Programme on Community-Based Care for the Elderly;
• ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network;
• ASEAN Work Programme on Preparing ASEAN Youth for Sustainable Employment and Other Challenges of Globalisation;
• ASEAN University Network (AUN) promoting collaboration among seventeen member universities ASEAN;
• ASEAN Students Exchange Programme, Youth Cultural Forum, and the ASEAN Young Speakers Forum;
• The Annual ASEAN Culture Week, ASEAN Youth Camp and ASEAN Quiz;
• ASEAN Media Exchange Programme; and
• Framework for Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) and ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

EXTERNAL RELATIONS
The ASEAN Vision 2020 affirmed an outward-looking ASEAN playing a pivotal role in the international community and advancing ASEAN’s common interests.
Building on the Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation of 1999, cooperation between the Southeast and Northeast Asian countries has accelerated with the holding of an annual summit among the leaders of ASEAN, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK) within the ASEAN Plus Three process.
ASEAN Plus Three relations continue to expand and deepen in the areas of security dialogue and cooperation, transnational crime, trade and investment, environment, finance and monetary, agriculture and forestry, energy, tourism, health, labour, culture and the arts, science and technology, information and communication technology, social welfare and development, youth, and rural development and poverty eradication. There are now thirteen ministerial-level meetings under the ASEAN Plus Three process.
Bilateral trading arrangements have been or are being forged between ASEAN Member Countries and China, Japan, and the ROK. These arrangements will serve as the building blocks of an East Asian Free Trade Area as a long term goal.
ASEAN continues to develop cooperative relations with its Dialogue Partners, namely, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, the ROK, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the United Nations Development Programme. ASEAN also promotes cooperation with Pakistan in some areas of mutual interest.
Consistent with its resolve to enhance cooperation with other developing regions, ASEAN maintains contact with other inter-governmental organisations, namely, the Economic Cooperation Organisation, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Rio Group, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the South Pacific Forum, and through the recently established Asian-African Sub-Regional Organisation Conference.
Most ASEAN Member Countries also participate actively in the activities of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the East Asia-Latin America Forum (EALAF).

STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS
The highest decision-making organ of ASEAN is the Meeting of the ASEAN Heads of State and Government. The ASEAN Summit is convened every year. The ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (Foreign Ministers) is held annually.
Ministerial meetings on the following sectors are also held regularly: agriculture and forestry, economics (trade), energy, environment, finance, health, information, investment, labour, law, regional haze, rural development and poverty alleviation, science and technology, social welfare, telecommunications, transnational crime, transportation, tourism, youth. Supporting these ministerial bodies are committees of senior officials, technical working groups and task forces.
To support the conduct of ASEAN’s external relations, ASEAN has established committees composed of heads of diplomatic missions in the following capitals: Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Canberra, Geneva, Islamabad, London, Moscow, New Delhi, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Riyadh, Seoul, Tokyo, Washington D.C. and Wellington.
The Secretary-General of ASEAN is appointed on merit and accorded ministerial status. The Secretary-General of ASEAN, who has a five-year term, is mandated to initiate, advise, coordinate, and implement ASEAN activities. The members of the professional staff of the ASEAN Secretariat are appointed on the principle of open recruitment and region-wide competition.
ASEAN has several specialized bodies and arrangements promoting inter-governmental cooperation in various fields including the following: ASEAN Agricultural Development Planning Centre, ASEAN-EC Management Centre, ASEAN Centre for Energy, ASEAN Earthquake Information Centre, ASEAN Foundation, ASEAN Poultry Research and Training Centre, ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, ASEAN Rural Youth Development Centre, ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Centre, ASEAN Timber Technology Centre, ASEAN Tourism Information Centre, and the ASEAN University Network.
In addition, ASEAN promotes dialogue and consultations with professional and business organisations with related aims and purposes, such as the ASEAN-Chambers of Commerce and Industry, ASEAN Business Forum, ASEAN Tourism Association, ASEAN Council on Petroleum, ASEAN Ports Association, Federation of ASEAN Shipowners, ASEAN Confederation of Employers, ASEAN Fisheries Federation, ASEAN Vegetable Oils Club, ASEAN Intellectual Property Association, and the ASEAN-Institutes for Strategic and International Studies. Furthermore, there are 58 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), which have formal affiliations with ASEAN.

The Founding of ASEAN
On 8 August 1967, five leaders - the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - sat down together in the main hall of the Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok, Thailand and signed a document. By virtue of that document, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was born. The five Foreign Ministers who signed it - Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand - would subsequently be hailed as the Founding Fathers of probably the most successful inter-governmental organization in the developing world today. And the document that they signed would be known as the ASEAN Declaration.
It was a short, simply-worded document containing just five articles. It declared the establishment of an Association for Regional Cooperation among the Countries of Southeast Asia to be known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and spelled out the aims and purposes of that Association. These aims and purposes were about cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, technical, educational and other fields, and in the promotion of regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. It stipulated that the Association would be open for participation by all States in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to its aims, principles and purposes. It proclaimed ASEAN as representing "the collective will of the nations of Southeast Asia to bind themselves together in friendship and cooperation and, through joint efforts and sacrifices, secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom and prosperity."
It was while Thailand was brokering reconciliation among Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia over certain disputes that it dawned on the four countries that the moment for regional cooperation had come or the future of the region would remain uncertain. Recalls one of the two surviving protagonists of that historic process, Thanat Khoman of Thailand: "At the banquet marking the reconciliation between the three disputants, I broached the idea of forming another organization for regional cooperation with Adam Malik. Malik agreed without hesitation but asked for time to talk with his government and also to normalize relations with Malaysia now that the confrontation was over. Meanwhile, the Thai Foreign Office prepared a draft charter of the new institution. Within a few months, everything was ready. I therefore invited the two former members of the Association for Southeast Asia (ASA), Malaysia and the Philippines, and Indonesia, a key member, to a meeting in Bangkok. In addition, Singapore sent S. Rajaratnam, then Foreign Minister, to see me about joining the new set-up. Although the new organization was planned to comprise only the ASA members plus Indonesia, Singapore's request was favorably considered."
And so in early August 1967, the five Foreign Ministers spent four days in the relative isolation of a beach resort in Bang Saen, a coastal town less than a hundred kilometers southeast of Bangkok. There they negotiated over that document in a decidedly informal manner which they would later delight in describing as "sports-shirt diplomacy." Yet it was by no means an easy process: each man brought into the deliberations a historical and political perspective that had no resemblance to that of any of the others. But with goodwill and good humor, as often as they huddled at the negotiating table, they finessed their way through their differences as they lined up their shots on the golf course and traded wisecracks on one another's game, a style of deliberation which would eventually become the ASEAN ministerial tradition.
Now, with the rigors of negotiations and the informalities of Bang Saen behind them, with their signatures neatly attached to the ASEAN Declaration, also known as the Bangkok Declaration, it was time for some formalities. The first to speak was the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Narciso Ramos, a one-time journalist and long-time legislator who had given up a chance to be Speaker of the Philippine Congress to serve as one of his country's first diplomats. He was then 66 years old and his only son, the future President Fidel V. Ramos, was serving with the Philippine Civic Action Group in embattled Vietnam. He recalled the tediousness of the negotiations that preceded the signing of the Declaration that "truly taxed the goodwill, the imagination, the patience and understanding of the five participating Ministers." That ASEAN was established at all in spite of these difficulties, he said, meant that its foundations had been solidly laid. And he impressed it on the audience of diplomats, officials and media people who had witnessed the signing ceremony that a great sense of urgency had prompted the Ministers to go through all that trouble. He spoke darkly of the forces that were arrayed against the survival of the countries of Southeast Asia in those uncertain and critical times.
"The fragmented economies of Southeast Asia," he said, "(with) each country pursuing its own limited objectives and dissipating its meager resources in the overlapping or even conflicting endeavors of sister states carry the seeds of weakness in their incapacity for growth and their self-perpetuating dependence on the advanced, industrial nations. ASEAN, therefore, could marshal the still untapped potentials of this rich region through more substantial united action."
When it was his turn to speak, Adam Malik, Presidium Minister for Political Affairs and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, recalled that about a year before, in Bangkok, at the conclusion of the peace talks between Indonesia and Malaysia, he had explored the idea of an organization such as ASEAN with his Malaysian and Thai counterparts. One of the "angry young men" in his country's struggle for independence two decades earlier, Adam Malik was then 50 years old and one of a Presidium of five led by then General Soeharto that was steering Indonesia from the verge of economic and political chaos. He was the Presidium's point man in Indonesia's efforts to mend fences with its neighbors in the wake of an unfortunate policy of confrontation. During the past year, he said, the Ministers had all worked together toward the realization of the ASEAN idea, "making haste slowly, in order to build a new association for regional cooperation."
Adam Malik went on to describe Indonesia's vision of a Southeast Asia developing into "a region which can stand on its own feet, strong enough to defend itself against any negative influence from outside the region." Such a vision, he stressed, was not wishful thinking, if the countries of the region effectively cooperated with each other, considering their combined natural resources and manpower. He referred to differences of outlook among the member countries, but those differences, he said, would be overcome through a maximum of goodwill and understanding, faith and realism. Hard work, patience and perseverance, he added, would also be necessary.
The countries of Southeast Asia should also be willing to take responsibility for whatever happens to them, according to Tun Abdul Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, who spoke next. In his speech, he conjured a vision of an ASEAN that would include all the countries of Southeast Asia. Tun Abdul Razak was then concurrently his country's Minister of Defence and Minister of National Development. It was a time when national survival was the overriding thrust of Malaysia's relations with other nations and so as Minister of Defence, he was in charge of his country's foreign affairs. He stressed that the countries of the region should recognize that unless they assumed their common responsibility to shape their own destiny and to prevent external intervention and interference, Southeast Asia would remain fraught with danger and tension. And unless they took decisive and collective action to prevent the eruption of intra-regional conflicts, the nations of Southeast Asia would remain susceptible to manipulation, one against another.
"We the nations and peoples of Southeast Asia," Tun Abdul Razak said, "must get together and form by ourselves a new perspective and a new framework for our region. It is important that individually and jointly we should create a deep awareness that we cannot survive for long as independent but isolated peoples unless we also think and act together and unless we prove by deeds that we belong to a family of Southeast Asian nations bound together by ties of friendship and goodwill and imbued with our own ideals and aspirations and determined to shape our own destiny". He added that, "with the establishment of ASEAN, we have taken a firm and a bold step on that road".
For his part, S. Rajaratnam, a former Minister of Culture of multi-cultural Singapore who, at that time, served as its first Foreign Minister, noted that two decades of nationalist fervor had not fulfilled the expectations of the people of Southeast Asia for better living standards. If ASEAN would succeed, he said, then its members would have to marry national thinking with regional thinking.
"We must now think at two levels," Rajaratnam said. "We must think not only of our national interests but posit them against regional interests: that is a new way of thinking about our problems. And these are two different things and sometimes they can conflict. Secondly, we must also accept the fact, if we are really serious about it, that regional existence means painful adjustments to those practices and thinking in our respective countries. We must make these painful and difficult adjustments. If we are not going to do that, then regionalism remains a utopia."
S. Rajaratnam expressed the fear, however, that ASEAN would be misunderstood. "We are not against anything", he said, "not against anybody". And here he used a term that would have an ominous ring even today: balkanization. In Southeast Asia, as in Europe and any part of the world, he said, outside powers had a vested interest in the balkanization of the region. "We want to ensure," he said, "a stable Southeast Asia, not a balkanized Southeast Asia. And those countries who are interested, genuinely interested, in the stability of Southeast Asia, the prosperity of Southeast Asia, and better economic and social conditions, will welcome small countries getting together to pool their collective resources and their collective wisdom to contribute to the peace of the world."
The goal of ASEAN, then, is to create, not to destroy. This, the Foreign Minister of Thailand, Thanat Khoman, stressed when it was his turn to speak. At a time when the Vietnam conflict was raging and American forces seemed forever entrenched in Indochina, he had foreseen their eventual withdrawal from the area and had accordingly applied himself to adjusting Thailand's foreign policy to a reality that would only become apparent more than half a decade later. He must have had that in mind when, on that occasion, he said that the countries of Southeast Asia had no choice but to adjust to the exigencies of the time, to move toward closer cooperation and even integration. Elaborating on ASEAN objectives, he spoke of "building a new society that will be responsive to the needs of our time and efficiently equipped to bring about, for the enjoyment and the material as well as spiritual advancement of our peoples, conditions of stability and progress. Particularly what millions of men and women in our part of the world want is to erase the old and obsolete concept of domination and subjection of the past and replace it with the new spirit of give and take, of equality and partnership. More than anything else, they want to be master of their own house and to enjoy the inherent right to decide their own destiny ..."
While the nations of Southeast Asia prevent attempts to deprive them of their freedom and sovereignty, he said, they must first free themselves from the material impediments of ignorance, disease and hunger. Each of these nations cannot accomplish that alone, but by joining together and cooperating with those who have the same aspirations, these objectives become easier to attain. Then Thanat Khoman concluded: "What we have decided today is only a small beginning of what we hope will be a long and continuous sequence of accomplishments of which we ourselves, those who will join us later and the generations to come, can be proud. Let it be for Southeast Asia, a potentially rich region, rich in history, in spiritual as well as material resources and indeed for the whole ancient continent of Asia, the light of happiness and well-being that will shine over the uncounted millions of our struggling peoples."
The Foreign Minister of Thailand closed the inaugural session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by presenting each of his colleagues with a memento. Inscribed on the memento presented to the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, was the citation, "In recognition of services rendered by His Excellency Adam Malik to the ASEAN organization, the name of which was suggested by him."
And that was how ASEAN was conceived, given a name, and born. It had been barely 14 months since Thanat Khoman brought up the ASEAN idea in his conversations with his Malaysian and Indonesian colleagues. In about three more weeks, Indonesia would fully restore diplomatic relations with Malaysia, and soon after that with Singapore. That was by no means the end to intra-ASEAN disputes, for soon the Philippines and Malaysia would have a falling out on the issue of sovereignty over Sabah. Many disputes between ASEAN countries persist to this day. But all Member Countries are deeply committed to resolving their differences through peaceful means and in the spirit of mutual accommodation. Every dispute would have its proper season but it would not be allowed to get in the way of the task at hand. And at that time, the essential task was to lay the framework of regional dialogue and cooperation.
The two-page Bangkok Declaration not only contains the rationale for the establishment of ASEAN and its specific objectives. It represents the organization’s modus operandi of building on small steps, voluntary, and informal arrangements towards more binding and institutionalized agreements. All the founding member states and the newer members have stood fast to the spirit of the Bangkok Declaration. Over the years, ASEAN has progressively entered into several formal and legally-binding instruments, such as the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and the 1995 Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.
Against the backdrop of conflict in the then Indochina, the Founding Fathers had the foresight of building a community of and for all Southeast Asian states. Thus the Bangkok Declaration promulgated that “the Association is open for participation to all States in the Southeast Asian region subscribing to the aforementioned aims, principles and purposes.” ASEAN’s inclusive outlook has paved the way for community-building not only in Southeast Asia, but also in the broader Asia Pacific region where several other inter-governmental organizations now co-exist.
The original ASEAN logo presented five brown sheaves of rice stalks, one for each founding member. Beneath the sheaves is the legend "ASEAN" in blue. These are set on a field of yellow encircled by a blue border. Brown stands for strength and stability, yellow for prosperity and blue for the spirit of cordiality in which ASEAN affairs are conducted. When ASEAN celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 1997, the sheaves on the logo had increased to ten - representing all ten countries of Southeast Asia and reflecting the colors of the flags of all of them. In a very real sense, ASEAN and Southeast Asia would then be one and the same, just as the Founding Fathers had envisioned.
This article is based on the first chapter of ASEAN at 30, a publication of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in commemoration of its 30th Anniversary on 8 August 1997, written by Jamil Maidan Flores and Jun Abad.

Pengertian Metode Kuantitatif

Secara umum, jenis penelitian berdasarkan pendekatan analisisnya dibedakan menjadi dua, yaitu kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Pendekatan ini lazim juga disebut sebagai pendekatan, ancangan, rencana atau desain.

Rancangan atau desain penelitian dalam arti sempit dimaknai sebagai suatu proses pengumpulan dan analisis penelitian. Dalam arti luas rancangan penelitian meliputi proses perencanaan dan pelaksanaan penlitian. Dalam rancangan pereperencaan dimulai dengan megadakan observasi dan evaluasi rerhadap penelitian yang sudah dikerjakan dan diketahui, sampai pada penetapan kerangka konsep dan hipotesis penelitian yang perlu pembuktian lebih lanjut.

Rancangan pelaksanaan penelitian meliputi prose membuat prcobaan ataupun pengamatan serta memilih pengukuran variable, prosedur dan teknik sampling, instrument, pengumpulan data, analisis data yang terkumpul, dan pelaporan hasil penelitian.

Metode penelitian lebih dekat dengan teknik. Misalnya, penelitian dengan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan menggunakan metode deskriptif. Dengan kata lain, metode deskriptif tersebut dapat dikatakan juga sebagai teknik deskriptif.

Perbedaan Metode Kuantitatif dengan Kualitatif

No	Metode Kuantitatif	Metode Kualitatif
1	Menggunakan hiopotesis yang ditentukan sejak awal penelitian.	Hipotesis dikembangkan sejalan dengan penelitian/saat penelitian.
2	Definisi yang jelas dinyatakan sejak awal.	Definisi sesuai konteks atau saat penelitian berlangsung.
3	Reduksi data menjadi angka-angka.	Deskripsi naratif/kata-kata, ungkapan atau pernyataan.
4	Lebih memperhatikan reliabilitas skor yang diperoleh melalui instrumen penelitian.	Lebih suka menganggap cukup dengan reliabilitas penyimpulan.
5	Penilaian validitas menggunakan berbagai prosedur dengan mengandalkan hitungan statistik.	Penilaian validitas melalui pengecekan silang atas sumber informasi.
6	Mengunakan deskripsi prosedur yang jelas (terinci).	Menggunakan deskripsi prosedur secara naratif.
7	Sampling random.	Sampling purposive.
8	Desain/kontrol statistik atas variabel eksternal.	Menggunakan analisis logis dalam mengontrol variabel ekstern.
9	Menggunakan desain khusus untuk mengontrol bias prosedur.	Mengandalkan peneliti dalam mengontrol bias.
10	Menyimpulkan hasil menggunakan statistic.	Menyimpulkan hasil secara naratif/kata-kata.
11	Memecah gejala-gejala menjadi bagian-bagian untuk dianalisis.	Gejala-gejala yang terjadi dilihat dalam perspektif keseluruhan.
12	Memanipulasi aspek, situasi atau kondisi dalam mempelajari gejala yang kompleks.	Tidak merusak gejala-gejala yang terjadi secara alamiah /membiarkan keadaan aslinya.

Pengertian Metode Kualitatif

Terdapat kesalahan pemahaman di dalam masyarakat bahwa yang dinamakan sebagai kegiatan penelitian adalah penelitian yang bercorak survei. Ditambah lagi ada pemahaman lain bahwa penelitian yang benar jika menggunakan sebuah daftar pertanyaan dan datanya dianalisa dengan menggunakan teknik statistik. Pemahaman ini berkembang karena kuatnya pengaruh aliran positivistik dengan metode penelitian kuantitatif.

Ada dua kelompok metode penelitian dalam ilmu sosial yakni metode penelitian kuantitatif dan metode penelitian kualitatif. Di antara kedua metode ini sering timbul perdebatan di seputar masalah metodologi penelitian. Masing-masing aliran berusaha mempertahankan kekuatan metodenya

Salah satu argumen yang dikedepankan oleh metode penelitian kualitatif adalah keunikan manusia atau gejala sosial yang tidak dapat dianalisa dengan metode yang dipinjam dari ilmu eksakta.

Metode penelitian kualitatif menekankan pada metode penelitian observasi di lapangan dan datanya dianalisa dengan cara non-statistik meskipun tidak selalu harus menabukan penggunaan angka

Penelitian kualitatif lebih menekankan pada penggunaan diri si peneliti sebagai alat. Peneliti harus mampu mengungkap gejala sosial di lapangan dengan mengerahkan segenap fungsi inderawinya. Dengan demikian, peneliti harus dapat diterima oleh responden dan lingkungannya agar mampu mengungkap data yang tersembunyi melalui bahasa tutur, bahasa tubuh, perilaku maupun ungkapan-ungkapan yang berkembang dalam dunia dan lingkungan responden.