Fundamental Concept

First day of fifth semester in Chemical Engineering, I start my day with bad perception in my mind. Fifth semester is the hardest semester in my campus for Chemical Engineering. The strict rule and abundant administration procedure that must be done, uncomfortable atmosphere due to task deadline, etc. makes life in this major seems hard. I start my day with small step; hoping this day was just a dream.

After attending two classes that day, I finally come to the class that my senior said 'quite deadly'. It is the Separation Process class. Nothing seems deadly when the lecturer came into class. Aged about 60, decent voice, and seems professional is something that I can't imagine the deadliness of this class. Then, it all change when the regulation for the class are told. The regulation for test score is quite shocking because the possible score you can get is 0,1,60 or 100. Class become noisy due to this regulation. I was waiting for his explanation about this rule.

"Imagine if you drive, you know how to steer, move forward, move backward but you can break. Do I feel comfortable when you drive my car?" That analogy has very deep meaning for what I have been doing in my study. Sometimes I forget that being an engineer candidate, we must know the fundamental knowledge not partially but comprehensive. Knowing what we study partially not only lower our credibility later as engineer, but also endanger our work environment. Lack of knowledge of theory and its application will make our decision for certain problem become inappropriate.

That moment, I realized that learning have to be comprehensive and rich in fundamental concept. Some graduates just study so that they can pass the test without knowing what they read and just read which question most likely to appear in test. These graduates are the one that going to regret the time they spend for not enriching their knowledge so they can become the real professional engineer in the future. This mind set must be reset so that graduate from campus can become the professional.

Conflict of interest

Lawmakers of the House of Representative in my country is best known for their unsatisfying work rather than the achievement they do. Improper policy legalized by them are proof of their incapability. Poor citizen become their sacrificial pawn for their egoism. Abundant of issues regarding corruption embedded in the House of Representatives makes bad reputation for lawmakers. Working as a lawmaker of the House of Representative become something that should not be said proudly. This makes people think twice to direct their children to be a lawmaker someday.

Analyzing the source of this catastrophe, it came to a conclusion that conflict of interest become the beginning of this situation. Based on a Latin phrase, man as a social creatures can also be homo homini lupus or "a wolf to his fellow" which means preying other man by emphasizing their ego. Their ego creates collateral damage to people around him and sometimes devastating the life of his friend. Conflict of interest not only in the House of Representative but also in daily life makes not harmony atmosphere. Then, it's not surprising that lawmakers of the House of Representative often ratify inappropriate policy due to conflict of interest.

When I was still in high school, I got an advice from my teacher that everything start from small step. Synchronizing this advice with recent condition, it can be concluded that uncontrolled egoism in every aspect of life happen if we nurture this behavior from young ages. Emphasizing an aspiration from certain group of people in discussion due to their prominence is one small step converting ourselves to be homo homini lupus. Their desire must be fulfilled even if that means they must steal other's rights.

Early education of character building, especially in elementary school must be applied in order to prevent bigger consequences. Character building not only building every individual character, but also sharpen their awareness of inappropriate manner of others in their environment. This awareness sparks their initiative to direct their environment to become an idealistic environment. Harmony will come automatically when a comfortable environment for all people are reached.