Sejarawan Senior Profesor Anhar Gonggong (Foto: Tangkapan layar Youtube)
THE EDITOR – Sejarawan Senior Profesor Anhar Gonggong mengatakan bila perusak hutan di Sumatera layak mendapat hukuman mati karena bertanggung jawab atas kematian 900 orang yang tewas akibat banjir bandang beberapa pekan terakhir ini.
“Mengapa sejak awal saya katakan kalau ketahuan orang ada yang melakukan perusakan (hutan) maka kalau perlu hukum mati,” ujar Profesor Anhar melalui akun Youtube resmi miliknya di @anhargonggongofficial pada Jumat (13/12/2025).
Menurutnya, hukuman mati seperti ini layak didapatkan oleh para perusak hutan Sumatera yang menurutnya datang dari kalangan korporasi besar. Hukuman ini bahkan dianggap oleh Profesor Anhar tidak sebanding dengan 900 orang yang tewas akibat banjir bandang dan ratusan lainnya yang masih dalam status hilang.
“Tapi sekarang saya tanya, 900 orang yang meninggal (karena banjir) di Sumatera dan masih ada sekian ratus orang yang belum ketemu, mau dibandingkan dengan menembak sekian banyak perusahaan penjahat itu dengan yang kehilangan 900-an orang, itu baru orang, belum benda, geografinya, belum bendanya,” ungkapnya.
Profesor Anhar mengkritisi orang-orang yang menolak hukuman mati atas kasus kejahatan serius di Indonesia. Namun, Ia mengatakan kasus banjir yang melanda Sumatera dan banyak daerah di Indonesia tidak pernah terlepas dari aksi jahat perusahaan-perusahaan yang berada di sekitar Sumatera.
“Ya ada yang mengatakan bahwa hukuman mati itu bukan kita yang berhak menghukum (mati) seseorang,” ungkapnya.
Bila tidak dihukum mati, Profesor Anhar juga mengimbau agar pemerintah menjatuhkan hukuman berlipat-lipat bagi perusak hutan Sumatera sebab kerusakan yang dihasilkan oleh mereka juga berlipat.
“Bisa seumur hidup. Ini kan masa depan yang mereka rusak,” ungkapnya.
Profesor Anhar yakin dengan hukuman seperti itu akan menimbulkan efek jera bagi pelakunya.
PENGUSAHA JAHAT AKAN HALANGI PERKEMBANGAN SUMATERA
Dalam tayangan tersebut, Profesor Anhar juga mengatakan bila pengusaha jahat yang merusak hutan Sumatera akan menghambat perkembangan Indonesia.
Ia berharap Kapolri dan Kejaksaan melihat kasus Sumatera ini secara luas agar cita-cita Indonesia menuju Indonesia Emas tercapai.
Profesor Anhar sendiri pesimis hukuman kepada perusak hutan yan dikatakan oleh Presiden Prabowo tidak akan membuat jera pelakunya.
Daftar harga kebutuhan pokok dari Kementerian Pertanian ini diunggah oleh musisi Melanie Subono di akun Instagram pribadinya pada Selasa, 9 Desember 2025 dan langsung mendapat perhatian netizen. (Foto: Instagram @melaniesubono/The Editor).
THE EDITOR – Bantuan bencana alam yang disalurkan oleh Kementerian Pertanian untuk korban bencana alam di Aceh, Sumatera Barat dan Sumatera Barat mengundang pertanyaan dari netizen dan musisi Tanah Air seperti pemain bass dari grup musik Slank, Ivan Kurniawan Arifin. Pasalnya, jumlah bantuan yang mencapai angka Rp 73.574.750.000 miliar tersebut ternyata diisi oleh angka-angka di luar nalar karena untuk bantuan beras Kementerian Pertanian ternyata memberikan harga sebesar Rp 65.000/liter.
Kisruh ini berawal dari postingan artis sekaligus promotor Melanie Subono lewat akun Instagramnya di @melaniesubono yang mengunggah 1 foto yang berisi daftar bantuan yang diberikan oleh Menteri Pertanian Andi Amran Sulaiman.
Tidak disebutkan dari mana asal foto tersebut, tapi Melanie menuliskan penjelasan yang cukup menarik perhatian netizen, termasuk pemain bass dari grup musik Slank di Instagram.
“Menangis tapi ga tau kenapa …. Mungkin karna gw cuma musisi pekerja sosial kali ya, jadi gatau harga . Ada yang paham harga ?? Smoga ini hoax,” tulis Melanie pada Selasa (9/12/2015).
MUSISI CURIGA ADA KORUPSI DI BANTUAN KEMENTERIAN PERTANIAN
Beberapa unggahan netizen di Instagram Melanie sangat menarik untuk dibahas karena ternyata masyarakat sudah cerdas dan sangat peka terhadap situasi terkini yang ada di daerah banjir bandang.
Salah satunya adalah bantuan beras yang harganya mencapai angka Rp 65.000/kg. Dalam daftar Kementerian Pertanian, disebutkan bahwa lembaga tersebut akan mengirimkan 21.874 kg beras yang senilai dengan Rp 1.312.450.000 miliar.
“Di item beras Costnya Rp. 1.312.45.000 ÷ 21.874 Liter =Rp 60.000 / liter. Keren!!!!👏👏,” tulis pemain bass dari grup musik Slank, Ivan Kurniawan Arifin @greenslank.
Komentar Ivan langsung dibalas oleh netizen lain dengan cara yang sama.
“yg lebih aneh lg point 13, YG LAINNYA 6 Miliar…coba buat apa?…😂,” tulis akun @djaloe1808.
HARGA TELUR JUGA DIBUAT LEBIH MAHAL
Netizen mempertanyakan kemampuan Kementan dalam mengelola dan membeli komoditi telur yang dianggap terlalu mahal oleh netizen. Pasalnya, bantuan untuk telur yang mencapai angka 2,189 kg dibeli dengan harga Rp 72.250.000.
Dari perhitungan netizen, diketahui harga telur tersebut mencapai Rp 33.000/kg. Sementara harga telur dipasarkan per kilogramnya dikatakan hanya mencapai Rp 31.000/kg.
Netizen heran karena lembaga sebesar Kementerian Pertanian tidak bisa memanfaatkan uang negara dengan membeli tanpa menawar serta penggelembungan nilai dari harga modal.
“Telur di jogja harga 26.000 kalo ecer. Disana emang mahal kali ya 33.000,” tulis akun @heeerrraaa_.
“Itu telur kl 2.189 kg x 30.000 =65.670di Semarang hrg telur masih di bawah 30rb,” tulis akun @maia.4791.
“Di jkt hr 31/kg,” tulis akun @5andaranhati.
“Di banten di Warung 31 k, kalau ini pasti beli banyak di agen nya langsung harga nya pasti di bawah itu sih kak, cuma lah mbuhlah pejabat disini,” tulis akun @riannaannaa.
“Dipasar buncit kemaren saya beli perkilo 30rb,” kata akun @minitaufik1205.
HARGA MINYAK GORENG JUGA DIGELEMBUNGKAN
“Minyak apa tu ya Allah ,perlitr 18 juta 500😢,” tulis akun @jack.doank.31924.
“Semua aja di Mark up !!,” tulis akun @nancybintangkecil99.
“Mie goreng ada bahan kelapa sawit nya kah ?” Tulis akun @vteaeighty.
KEMENTERIAN PERTANIAN REVISI PERNYATAAN HARGA BERAS, TAPI TIDAK UNTUK KOMODITI LAIN
Usai mendapat begitu banyak pertanyaan di media sosial, Kementerian Pertanian langsung mengeluarkan pernyataan resmi di akun Instagram mereka di @kementerianpertanian tak lama setelah unggahan harga bantuan tersebut viral.
Kementerian Pertanian mengaku keliru saat menulis harga satuan beras yang mereka cantumkan. Mereka mengelak dengan mengatakan bila volume 21.874 tersebut adalah jumlah paket yang masing-masing berisi 5 kg beras.
Sehingga, nilai total keseluruhan dari bantuan tersebut mencapai angka 16 miliar dengan perincian beras sebanyak 1.200 ton.
Kementerian Pertanian juga mengaku tidak membeli barang-barang tersebut menggunakan anggaran, melainkan menerima langsung bantuan dalam bentuk barang dari mitra dan pihak yang ingin berkolaborasi.
Media Vatikan mengunggah foto seorang wanita korban banjir terlihat tengah menyelamatkan bendera kebangsaan Indonesia yang berwarna merah dan putih dari banjir (Foto: Instagram @vaticannewspt)
THE EDITOR – Paus Leo XIV ikut serta mendoakan jutaan orang yang terdampak banjir di Sumatera, Indonesia dan Asia Tenggara secara keseluruhan lewat Doa Angelus yang disampaikan pada Minggu (7/12/2015) di Roma, Vatikan.
Dalam doa tersebut, Paus Leo mengatakan bila Ia memiliki hubungan yang akrab dengan bangsa-bangsa di Asia Selatan dan Asia Tenggara. Ia juga meminta agar komunitas internasional segera turun tangan untuk menolong jutaan orang yang terdampak dalam banjir tersebut.
“Saya dekat dengan bangsa-bangsa di Asia Selatan dan Asia Tenggara yang sangat diuji oleh bencana alam baru-baru ini. Saya berdoa bagi para korban, keluarga yang berduka, dan semua pihak yang memberikan bantuan. Saya mengajak komunitas internasional serta semua orang berkehendak baik untuk mendukung saudara-saudari kita di wilayah tersebut dengan tanda solidaritas nyata,” seperti dikutip dari PenaKatolik.Com pada Selasa (9/12/2025).
Kaki korban banjir terlihat tengah memakai sepatu boot alami karena lumpur yang harus mereka lalui saat berjalan cukup dalam (Foto: Instagram @vaticannewspt)
Sebagaimana diketahui, bencana banjir dan longsor yang melanda kawasan Asia Selatan dan Asia Tenggara telah menewaskan lebih dari 1.500 orang. Data terbaru mencatat 883 korban jiwa di Indonesia, 486 di Sri Lanka, 185 di Thailand, dan 3 di Malaysia.
Sementara itu, tim darurat terus berupaya menolong warga yang terdampak banjir. Laporan menyebutkan banyak desa di Sri Lanka dan Indonesia masih terkubur lumpur dan puing, dengan sekitar 900 orang dilaporkan hilang. Di Sumatra Utara, para frater Kapusin membuka biara mereka untuk menampung keluarga yang kehilangan tempat tinggal.
Provinsial Kapusin Sibolga, Pastor Yoseph Norbert Sinaga OFMCap, mengatakan bahwa meski badai telah berlalu, krisis kemanusiaan baru saja dimulai karena banyak warga kini hidup tanpa rumah. Ia menambahkan,
“Kami kini menderita karena kekurangan air dan listrik, terutama air minum yang menjadi masalah serius. Bahkan kami di biara harus mengambil air dari mata air di hutan.” Pastor Sinaga menegaskan bahwa bantuan segera sangat dibutuhkan, dan setelah keadaan darurat teratasi, pihaknya akan berusaha membantu membangun kembali rumah-rumah warga.
Doa dan seruan Paus Leo XIV, bersama aksi nyata Gereja lokal, menjadi pengingat bahwa solidaritas lintas bangsa dan iman sangat penting dalam menghadapi bencana besar yang menimpa Asia Tenggara.
Instagram media sosial Instagram Vatikan di @vaticannewspt juga mengunggah beberapa foto yang diambil dari kawasan banjir, termasuk Indonesia.
Dinding dan pakaian yang tergantung di dalam rumah terlihat kotor karena lumpur. Kenyataan ini menunjukkan bila saat banjir tidak hanya air saja yang masuk hingga ke atap rumah, namun juga membawa material lumpur yang padat (Foto: Instagram @vaticannewspt)
Beberapa diantaranya adalah foto korban banjir yang tengah melipat bendera merah putih, lansia yang berjuang membersihkan rumah dari lumpur serta orang dewasa yang menyelamatkan diri dari banjir.
Tak hanya itu, media Vatikan juga mengunggah kebahagiaan sebagai orang yang tercipta dari banjir melalui hasil tangkapan ikan yang didapat dari air yang menggenangi rumah mereka.
Vatikan juga menyoroti korban banjir yang ikut mengantri untuk mendapatkan bantuan. Kaki mereka yang terkena lumpur terlihat seperti sepatu boots alami yang mewarnai kaki anak-anak hingga orang dewasa yang berbaris demi makanan.
Apa tanggapanmu atas berita di atas? Komentar di kolom ya.
(Kanan) Mesir kepada Manajer Marketing Internasional Khailash Group Corp Wahyu Hidayatullah, Country Manager untuk wilayah Asia GAFI Reem, Atase Perdagangan KBRI Kairo Bapak Syahran Bhakti dan Staf dari Kailash Group (Foto: Humas KBRI Kairo/THE EDITOR)
THE EDITOR – Tim Ekonomi Perdagangan KBRI Kairo memberikan pendampingan kepada calon investor asal Indonesia di Kantor GAFI (General Authority for Investment and Free Zones) Mesir kepadaManajer Marketing Internasional Khailash Group Corp, Wahyu Hidayatullah yang berencana akan segera membuka Cafe dan Restoran di Kairo Mesir.
Peristiwa ini bermula saat Wahyu datang berkunjung ke KBRI Kairo untuk mencari tahu tentang cara berinvestasi disama.
“Bapak Wahyu telah diterima langsung oleh Fungsi Ekonomi KBRI Kairo Bapak Rifki Rustam Arsyad dan Atase Perdagangan KBRI Kairo Bapak Syahran Bhakti beserta staf Syamsu Alam,” demikian tertulis dalam Siaran Pers yang diterima The Editor pada Selasa (9/12/2025).
Dalam kesempatan tersebut, dikatakan bila Wahyu memaparkan tentangrencana pembukaan resto dan cafe dimaksud serta latar belakang perusahaan yang diwakilinya telah memiliki brand yang telah berdiri di 3 kota di Indonesia yakni Bandung, Surabaya dan Bali dengan nama Aceh Authentic Resto & Coffee.
Menanggapi rencana tersebut, Rifki mengapresiasi dan menilai bahwa pembukaan resto dan cafe dimaksud sangat memungkinkan mengingat saat ini terdapat lebih dari 18 ribu mahasiswa Indonesia berada di Kairo – Mesir dan jumlah tersebut merupakan target pasar yang sangat potensial.
Selain itu, lanjutnya, pendirian resto dan cafe akan semakin mudah mengingat Khailash Group telah memiliki preseden dan SOP dalam mengelola bisnis serupa.
Perlu diketahui, saat ini, KBRI Kairo telah memiliki contact person (CP) dari pemerintah Mesir yang siap membantu dan memberikan kemudahan dalam berinvestasi di Mesir.
Rifki juga menambahkan bahwa saat ini Mesir juga telah membuka banyak kesempatan bagi pihak asing untuk membuka restoran di Mesir.
Tercatat kurang lebih 50 restoran asing telah beroperasi di Mesir dan merupakan investasi dari China, Vietnam, Korea Selatan dan Thailand.
Indonesia juga diketahui telah memiliki sejumlah tempat makan berskala kecil yang didirikan oleh para mahasiswa Indonesia di Mesir namun mayoritas belum terdaftar secara resmi.
“Melihat angka tersebut, menjadi bukti bahwa pasar restoran Mesir sangat menjanjikan karena orang Mesir juga dikenal senang mencoba makanan dari berbagai penjuru dunia,” ungkapnya.
Lebih lanjut, Syahran menambahkan bahwa saat ini konsumsi kopi robusta Indonesia telah menguasai 60% pasar Mesir. Hal ini membuktikan bahwa kopi Indonesia sudah sangat familiar di lidah orang Mesir.
Pembukaan Cafe dinilai akan sangat mudah dan potensial untuk segera digarap. Selain itu, rempah-rempah Indonesia diketahui juga sudah diimpor oleh pihak Mesir sejak lama dan akan sangat memudahkan pengusaha Indonesia yang akan membuka restoran di Mesir.
Adapun dalam kunjungan pendampingan ke kantor GAFI, Tim Ekodag KBRI Kairo telah diterima langsung oleh Nagy Abu Elella selaku Penasehat Presiden GAFI.
Dalam kesempatan tersebut, Tim Ekodag beserta Wahyu mendapatkan informasi langsung terkait kemudahan berinvestasi di Mesir. Kunjungan tersebut dilanjutkan dengan melakukan tur ke gedung Investor Service Center yang didampingi langsung oleh Reem selaku Country Manager untuk wilayah Asia GAFI. Dalam kesempatan tersebut, Mr. Wahyu mendapatkan informasi detil dan semakin yakin untuk segera memulai bisnis di Mesir.
Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Photograph: Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy/The Guardian
THE EDITOR – The director’s two-part revenge saga has now been released as one mammoth movie with several tweaks and additions
Jesse Hassenger, journalist of The Guardian on Friday (5/12/2025) said that Quentin Tarantino and his epic revenge saga Kill Bill had, as the vengeful lead character in the movie keeps saying, unfinished business. He add that Tarantino mostly finished the business of re-integrating two volumes of Kill Bill into a single feature as early as 2006, just a couple of years after the release of Kill Bill: Vol 2. But while that version played at Cannes and had a few more recent runs at Tarantino-owned theaters in Los Angeles, it never reached home video (though some bootlegs attempted to recreate it) or a wide theatrical release. That’s all changed with this weekend’s debut of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, a four-and-a-half-hour version of the movie hitting over 1,000 screens across North America.
“Tarantino made long movies before and after Kill Bill; features that run over two and a half hours make up the vast majority of his filmography. But in the early 2000s, Kill Bill represented a major pivot for the film-maker, away from his then-signature crime dramas with healthy helpings of black comedy. Tarantino and his Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman cooked up the character of the Bride – “Q & U” are named as providers of the source material in the credits – as a pregnant ex-assassin who becomes the victim of a vicious wedding-eve attack from her ex-boss/lover (that would be Bill) and their lethal colleagues (those would be the other four on her “death list five”, a phrase whose rhythm recalls Fox Force Five, the fictional TV pilot Thurman’s character in Pulp Fiction once starred in). The Bride unexpectedly survives the shooting, goes into a coma, and wakes up years later desperate for revenge, forming the backbone of a movie that pays extensive tribute to the kung fu, exploitation and revenge movies of Tarantino’s youth – and his dreams, if the vividly colorful look of the film is any indication,”.
“When Kill Bill went over budget and started approaching the four-hour mark, Tarantino’s producer – since-disgraced and jailed sex criminal Harvey Weinstein – suggested splitting the movie into two parts, rather than either gambling on a four-hour movie or forcing the film-maker to cut his opus way down. So instead, the film was sliced down the middle. The gambit worked financially, to the tune of $330m worldwide between the two movies, and hardcore fans assuming a “full” version was probably just around the corner. It was not. But now it’s finally here, more than 20 years later,”.
“So what’s different in this supersized version that you can’t get from playing the two movies back-to-back at home? In several cases, it’s actually less a question of making additions than undoing them,” Jesse add.
Jesse answer that to give the two-movie version a little more shape, a major revelation once intended for the movie’s final chapter was shifted to a cliffhanging tease at the end of volume one. Though The Whole Bloody Affair does throw to a 15-minute intermission after the events of volume one, it eliminates dialogue from Bill revealing that the Bride’s daughter is alive and well. In both versions, The Bride herself finds out about her daughter in the film’s final stretch; now the audience (or at least, the hypothetical audience who hasn’t seen the movie before) learns of the daughter’s existence alongside the heroine. Volume two also loses a brief black-and-white introduction delivered directly to the camera by Thurman; it’s the only noticeable change to the back half of the movie.
For Jesse, some first-film material, however, has been expanded, mostly to accommodate additional arterial spray. The animated chapter depicting the backstory of O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu in live-action form) has an additional action sequence depicting a young O-Ren battling with another killer. And the gorgeous House of Blue Leaves sequence, which has The Bride slicing her way through dozens of O-Ren’s henchmen in flesh and blood, has been slightly expanded and now proceeds in full color. The volume one version switched to black-and-white after a few minutes, and cut some of the gnarliest carnage, to avoid an NC-17 rating. The sequence was already magnificent, but it does gain even greater power with the full extent of Robert Richardson’s primary colors on display: the yellow of the Bride’s Bruce Lee-like tracksuit; the blue glow of overhead lights and the wintry night sky; and, of course, the bright red of all that blood.
“The single deleted scene from the volume two DVD – the only time we’d really see Bill in martial-arts action – hasn’t made it back into the longer cut. However, the release does feature a different, non-canonical bonus scene that exists apart from the feature. After the credits, viewers can watch an animated “lost” chapter of the story, deleted from an early draft well before anything was shot, where Yuki, the twin sister of schoolgirl-ish assassin Gogo, seeks revenge on the Bride. It was made for the video game Fortnite, and non-fans of the game will probably wish it hadn’t been. Seeing this inconsequential but elaborate action sequence done up as proper anime probably would have been a kick; as an uncanny bit of Fortnite-engine weirdness, complete with game-character cameos, it, well, captures a moment in time, let’s say. No movie fan is likely to find it essential. Some may not even find it watchable. At the showing I attended, it had the additional oddity of being a computer-animated Fortnite short projected as part of a 70mm celluloid print,”.
“An ill-fitting Fortnite chapter does, however, stay true to the digressive nature of Tarantino’s biggest, wildest movie. Watching a single 270-minute version really drives home the fact that in pure story terms, the “important” stuff that happens in Kill Bill could be pretty easily depicted in 95 minutes or less. By design, this is not one of Tarantino’s best screenplays. (I’m pretty sure that at one point, the Bride says “entropy” when she means “atrophy”.) Yet the writer-director was right to resist cutting it. Without the largely extraneous bits – O-Ren’s baroque origin; a long scene where the Bride meets a legendary sword-maker and engages in some shtick at his tiny restaurant; Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) reading poisonous snake facts she dutifully copied down from a website; Bill’s eventual monologue ruminating on Superman – the movie is about a woman having five different fights. With all of that material, it transcends its roots and becomes a brilliant cross between a cinematic DJ set, half a dozen different types of exploitation films and a sprawling novel,”.
In fact, Jesse continue, the movie works shockingly well as two discrete volumes, with tonal differences that apparently came naturally before the split was even conceived. You don’t really need to see The Whole Bloody Affair to truly appreciate Kill Bill – though, again, that House of Blue Leaves sequence only gets better and more colorful with the extra blood, and fans who live near any of the 70mm engagements will be understandably excited. Even without that lure, though, it’s a great opportunity to immerse yourself in Tarantino’s sensibility or, if that doesn’t appeal, a true powerhouse performance from Thurman. In the longer version, it’s even easier to appreciate how gracefully she moves from physical, technical demands to movie-star charm to raw emotionality as motherhood throws her off her axis and imbues her with an even greater sense of purpose. Some have found later-period Tarantino overly arch and referential, starting with this precise four-hour indulgence. Yet it’s hard not to take the movie at least somewhat seriously, even at its silliest, when the Bride is on-screen. More than any particular tinkering, it’s the fullness of Thurman’s performance that turns Kill Bill into a genuine epic.
THE EDITOR – December can bring huge stress, as people struggle with budgetary pressures, organisation and what to give the person who has everything. Here’s a guide to getting it right, every time.
he festive shopping season is upon us and there is usually someone who is hard to buy for on the list. How can you avoid the stress of last-minute panic buying? Personal shoppers share their tips on how to treat your loved ones to something that they will cherish.
Be ultra organised
“A spreadsheet makes life so much easier,” says Clare Barry, a personal shopper and director of Victoria James Concierge, based in Sunningdale, Berkshire. “I set a budget, and I’ll think about what they like, what they’ve been doing this year, work out different options and start putting ideas against their name.” Barry says she has been working on her clients’ present lists since the summer. There are usually some last-minute pleas for help: “It is generally men,” Barry says to The Guardian on Saturday (6/12/2025).
Jennifer Nicholls from Watford works as a personal shopper as part of her An Hour Earned concierge business. She starts gathering her clients’ lists in October. “I spend a lot of time Googling things, and have lots and lots of deliveries. The postman hates me. At the moment, my flat is festooned with hundreds of gifts.”
Use last year’s gift guides for inspiration
Because she starts so early, Nicholls turns to the previous year’s gift guides for ideas of products and companies. This helps to create a portfolio of businesses that make unusual things, she says, and has the added benefit that items don’t sell out instantly, unlike suggestions on the current year’s guides.
Give gifts a quality check
“Always go for the best quality you can at the price that works for you,” says Nicholls. “I would avoid a brand name over something that feels better quality. It needs to feel solid and well built.” “Something that’s nicely made that you can tell is quality is always appreciated,” adds Barry.
Check the returns policy before you buy
Nicholls does most of her shopping online: “You can find more interesting, unique, quirky items much easier. I find that going to physical shops tends to be a bit samey.” But the quality of things you buy on the internet can sometimes disappoint: “Colours don’t translate properly; if the feel and quality isn’t quite right, I’ll return it,” says Nicholls. “I’m always careful to check the returns policy before I buy and the returns window so I don’t miss that.”
Use the opportunity to support local businesses and shops
Buying locally can be more economical and helps small businesses rather than giving Jeff Bezos even more cash. “We have a responsibility to support local businesses and people who are out there building and making beautiful things,” says Nicholls.
If you don’t know what to buy, give food
There are some usual culprits who are difficult to buy for, like, “the neighbour down the road, the boss, the aunt you haven’t seen in a decade, but you still feel like you have to send something”, says Nicholls. “Food is always good, such as a hamper or some really nice chocolates … even if they personally don’t like it, a family member will.” Which is better, a small box of posh chocolates or a massive box of cheap ones? The former, says Barry – while you might buy a huge bar of Dairy Milk for a movie night, you might not get yourself a bougie box of truffles.
Or give an experience
“If somebody is a busy parent or working every hour, then experience gifts are really fun,” says Nicholls. For example, buying a nail voucher for a friend who has just had a baby, “and looking after the baby so she can go out and get her nails done. It is about buying somebody time more than anything. Most people will be very grateful for that.” Always print out an experience voucher rather than just forwarding an email, says Barry. Or even better, put it in a gift box with an item related to the experience, such as a toy car if it is a race car driving day, or an Eiffel Tower figure if it is Eurostar tickets to Paris.
Have something personalised
If you have time, add ribbons when wrapping your presents. (Photograph: fotostorm/Getty Images/iStockphoto/The Guardian)
“The people most difficult to buy for are almost always those who have everything,” says Aoidín Sammon, a personal shopper in London. “For them I would always have something personalised.” Her go-to would be getting a passport cover or luggage tag monogrammed.
“Focus on their lifestyle, what they like to do, what they talk about, what they spend time on,” says Barry. “If they play golf a lot, and they’ve got everything for it, you could get something personalised for them, like a glove with their initials on. That makes such a huge difference: you’ve gone out of your way to do something different that they will always keep.” The same goes for a personalised notebook, says Barry, which she believes even in this day and age will still be coveted and used: “People like to take them to meetings”, she says, to show them off.
Get someone an upgrade
Something that works particularly well for men, who Nicholls says are often tricky, is to “buy them something they already have, but either an upgraded version or in a different colour. So if they wear lots of checked shirts buy them a checked shirt. You know they’re going to like it.” Nicholls also says fancy kitchen equipment can be a safe bet, as people often just buy basic stuff. “Gifting somebody a Le Creuset casserole dish that will last 30 years, or a really nice knife that’s going to be something they reach for regularly, is really useful. My mum gave me a cheese grater in my 20s and I’m still using it 20 years later.”
Consider a practical gift
Needless to say Nicholls is a fan of practical presents: “I’m very much of the opinion that something that you can use is going to make a good gift, and also, every time you use it, you’re going to think of the person who gave it to you.” One of her favourite gifts ever was a pink toolkit from her grandfather, which she still uses regularly: “I think of him every time I pick it up.” Barry, though, is not a fan of practical gifts: “A gift should be something that you would love but you wouldn’t buy yourself. It’s a treat.” When a client suggests a new steam iron for their wife, “I say: ‘absolutely not!’ I think it’s grounds for divorce.”
Be inventive with your Secret Santa
“I would go down the jokey route,” says Nicholls. “Leave yourself plenty of time and search for ‘fun Secret Santa gifts’. The best one I ever found was an office voodoo kit.”
Barry says she has heard of people doing a challenge for their Secret Santa, where they can only spend £10 in a charity shop: “It’s great because you can come up with all sorts, but the charities benefit as well.”
Don’t spoil children
“Children generally get far too much at Christmas,” says Barry. “We’ve had clients where the children didn’t even finish opening the gifts that they got on Christmas Day – they were still wrapped six months later.” She says “less is more” and advises on setting a firm budget and number of presents. “It means that they will appreciate what they’ve been given, and they will actually spend time looking at what they’ve got.”
“Most parents are not going to thank you for another plastic thing with lots of bits,” says Nicholls. She recommends experiences for kids: “Take them to the zoo, a museum, their first theatre trip. They are probably going to appreciate that more than a piece of plastic that they’ll play with for a day and then discard, and it gives their parents a break for an afternoon as well.” She also loves giving book tokens “because most parents want to encourage their children to read, and kids love being able to pick their own book”.
Include a gift receipt in certain circumstances
Shops sometimes offer a gift receipt; should you include it? “I think if you’re giving clothing, yes, because it’s easy to not get the style or the size right,” says Nicholls. “If you’re giving other things, I say no … You’re inviting them to not like it if you give them the receipt.” “For the most part there is no need,” says Sammon. “If lots of thought has gone into a gift, the receiver would not wish to return or exchange it.”
Regift with caution
It can be awkward if you receive a gift you will not use and cannot return it. Is it acceptable to pass it on to someone else? “Regifting is very much OK in my mind,” says Sammon. “If you receive a candle or perfume that isn’t your scent, I see nothing wrong with regifting it to someone you feel will enjoy it more. There is so much waste at this time of year, we need to help reduce this.”
“I wouldn’t,” says Nicholls. “I find it uncomfortable but other people feel differently. I suppose there is something to be said for the gift going to a home of somebody who will appreciate it.”
Wrap with a ribbon
“The wrapping is the first impression of the gift, so it deserves just as much consideration as what is inside,” says Sammon. “A gift won’t be quite as special if not wrapped with care.”
“I don’t believe in spending a fortune on wrapping paper,” says Barry. “Yes, it looks lovely when it is wrapped, but it is going to last three seconds as somebody then rips it off. But I do think if you’ve got the time to put ribbons on, that really does elevate the way your gifts look and are presented.” To make it look really magical, her top tip is brown paper, velvet ribbon and a sprig of holly.
You can’t go wrong with the classics
When lacking in inspiration, turn to old favourites like socks, whisky and scarves. “A failsafe gift for a friend or family member is a really beautiful hand soap or hand cream,” says Sammon, but something more luxurious than normal. “You always need more soap!”
“It depends on who you’re giving them to,” says Nicholls. “If it is a close relative, like your mum, they might be a bit boring. You can come up with a spin on it to make it more interesting,” such as a subscription where you receive something like books for a few months. “If you’re buying it for your boss or somebody you’re not that close to, I think timeless is absolutely a great way to go: hampers, candles, you can’t go wrong with cashmere – pretty much everybody is going to be happy with some cashmere bed socks.”
If you are on your way somewhere and have only got a petrol station to dash into, reach for this
“Alcohol, definitely,” says Barry. What if they don’t drink? “Then I don’t think we’d be friends,” she laughs. But if there was no booze: “I would get a gift bag and create a little kit. Say they love hot chocolate, I would buy hot chocolate and marshmallows.”
“A couple of bunches of flowers,” says Nicholls. “Take them out of the paper and re-tie them. Or I’d go for the nicest box of chocolates, if it was a Marks & Spencer. If it was the local Shell, I’d buy them the nicest antifreeze that was available and turn it into a joke. At the end of the day, it really is the thought that counts. It’s not about the stuff, it’s the thought behind it.”
Hakim Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK) Saldi Isra dalam sidang lanjutan perkara 197/PUU-XXIII/2025 terkait uji materi Undang-Undang Nomor 3 Tahun 2025 tentang TNI pada Rabu, 3 Desember 2025 (Foto: Tangkapan Layar Youtube Mahkamah Konstitusi)
THE EDITOR – Hakim Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK) Saldi Isra merasa sedih mendengar pernyataan dari Kepala Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) Suharyanto yang menganggap bila bencana banjir yang menelan nyawa hingga ratusan orang di Sumatera Barat hanya ribut di media sosial saja.
“Saya sebetulnya agak merasa sedih juga pernyataan seorang perwira tinggi soal bencana di Sumatera Barat itu,” kata Saldi dalam sidang lanjutan perkara 197/PUU-XXIII/2025 terkait uji materi Undang-Undang Nomor 3 Tahun 2025 tentang TNI. Sidang tersebut turut menghadirkan perwakilan pemerintah, salah satunya dari Wakil Menteri Hukum Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej atau Eddy Hiariej pada Rabu (3/12/2025).
Tak hanya itu, Saldi juga mempertanyakan proses seleksi internal seperti apa yang pernah dilalui oleh TNI saat memilih Suharyanto hingga semua orang dapat mengetahui proses tersebut secara terbuka.
“Dan Itu kan sebetulnya kita berpikir ini diseleksi secara benar atau tidak itu. Masa bencana dikatakan hanya ributnya di medsos saja. Itu salah satu point. Sebagai orang yang berasal dari daerah bencana, saya perlu sampaikan itu sekaligus jadi refleksi oleh Wamenhan,” tanya Saldi.
Sebelumnya, Saldi meminta TNI menjelaskan bagaimana selama ini mekanisme pemilihan perwira tinggi terjadi sebelum dipindahkan ke kementerian dan lembaga. Tujuannya adalah untuk membuktikan apakah perwira tinggi tersebut dipindahkan karena kebutuhan permintaan sebagaimana dijelaskan oleh perwakilan TNI yang hadir dala persidangan tersebut.
“Ini soal penugasan di instansi di luar pemerintah ya, diluar TNI. Tolong kami kalau bisa, karena tadi basis argumentasinya (adalah) berbasis permintaan. Pak Menhan nanti Wamenhan tolong kami dikasih contoh-contoh surat permintaan dari instansi itu, untuk melihat ini betul-betul permintaan atau bagaimana. (Surat permintaan) yang terjadi sebelumnya, sebelum hari ini untuk contohnya untuk membuktikan ini memang basisnya permintaan atau basisnya diluar permintaan,”katanya.
“Nah, yang terakhir, Pak Wamenhan, tolong kami juga dijelaskan mekanisme seleksi seperti yang diceritakan oleh Pak Wamenhan tadi. Dan ini tidak begitu saja katanya kan? Kalau ada permintaan lalu kemudian tidak begitu saja dipenuhi, tapi ada mekanisme seleksi internal. (Jadi) tolong kami dijelaskan juga bagaimana mekanisme seleksi internal itu bekerja. Supaya ditemukan perwira atau pati yang memenuhi persyaratan untuk dikirimkan ke tempat-tempat tertentu,” ungkapnya.
Kepala BNPB Suharyanto minta maaf
Kepala Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) Letjen Suharyanto (Foto: Dok BNPB/CNA)
Kepala Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) Letjen Suharyanto akhirnya menyampaikan permintaan maaf setelah pernyataannya yang menyebut banjir bandang di Sumatra “tak mencekam” ramai dikritik publik di media sosial.
Respons itu muncul setelah ia meninjau langsung kondisi lapangan di Tapanuli Selatan dan memantau dampak bencana dari helikopter.
Permintaan maaf itu disampaikan kepada Bupati Tapanuli Selatan, Gus Irawan Pasaribu, saat melihat kondisi bencana di desa Egaruga, Batang Toru.
“Saya surprise, saya tidak mengira sebesar ini. Saya mohon maaf Pak Bupati. Bukan berarti kami tak peduli,” ucap Suharyanto dilansir dari CNN Indonesia, Selasa (2/12).
Sebelumnya, Suharyanto menuai kecaman setelah menyebut bahwa situasi bencana terlihat mencekam “hanya di media sosial.” Ucapan itu memantik reaksi keras karena dinilai meremehkan kondisi korban yang terdampak banjir dan longsor di Aceh, Sumatra Utara, dan Sumatra Barat.
Anggota Komisi IV DPR RI, Usman Husin (Foto: Istimewa/The Editor)
THE EDITOR – Anggota Komisi IV DPR RI, Usman Husin, melontarkan kritik keras kepada Menteri Kehutanan Raja Juli Antoni dalam rapat kerja di Senayan pada Kamis (4/12/2025). Ia menilai penanganan persoalan hutan belum menunjukkan perbaikan signifikan.
“Pak Menteri lihat nggak bencana Sumatra, seharusnya izin semua disetop… Pak Menteri tidak boleh lempar ke yang terdahulu,” kata Usman dalam rapat kerja seperti disiarkan Youtube TVR Parlemen seperti dikutip dari Tirto.id pad Jumat (5/12).
Usman meminta pemerintah menghentikan seluruh izin pelepasan kawasan hutan di Sumatra. Ia menekankan perlunya penjelasan teknis soal waktu dan proses penanaman ulang di wilayah yang rusak. Pernyataan tersebut disampaikan sebagai bentuk desakan agar kebijakan kehutanan lebih ketat.
Legislator PKB itu juga menyinggung penerbitan izin di Tapanuli Selatan yang dianggap tidak sejalan dengan pernyataan pemerintah. Ia mempertanyakan penanganan lahan gundul yang belum menunjukkan perkembangan penanaman kembali.
“Kalau Pak Menteri nggak mampu, mundur aja… Pak Menteri nggak paham tentang kehutanan,” tegasnya.
RAJA JULI SEBUT BILA IZIN JASA LINGKUNGAN DARI PRESIDEN PRABOWO
Menanggapi kritik tersebut, Raja Juli menegaskan tak pernah mengeluarkan izin penebangan baru selama menjabat. Ia menyebut hanya menerbitkan izin jasa lingkungan dan restorasi ekosistem sesuai arahan Presiden Prabowo Subianto. Menteri Kehutanan itu memastikan tidak ada pelepasan kawasan hutan di tiga provinsi terdampak bencana.
PROFIL USMAN HUSIN
Usman Husin merupakan politikus PKB yang lahir di Rote, Nusa Tenggara Timur pada 5 Oktober 1960. Ia terpilih sebagai anggota DPR RI periode 2024-2029 melalui dapil NTT II seusai mengantongi 29.886 suara.
Sebagai putra daerah NTT, Usman menempuh pendidikan dasar di SDN 1 Ba’a, Rote. Ia kemudian melanjutkan ke sejumlah sekolah teknik dan menengah di Kupang. Pendidikan tingginya ditempuh di Universitas Muhammadiyah Kupang jurusan Ilmu Ekonomi.
Riwayat pendidikannya juga mencakup pelatihan di sektor pelayaran. Ia belajar Ahli Nautika Tingkat Dasar di Ditjen Perhubungan Laut. Setelah itu, ia mengikuti pendidikan Ilmu Pelayaran di Balai Diklat Ilmu Pelayaran.
Sebelum memasuki dunia politik, Usman bekerja di sektor kepelabuhanan. Ia pernah menjabat Kepala Syahbandar Pelabuhan Ba’a pada 2010. Tiga tahun kemudian ia memimpin Syahbandar Pelabuhan Labuan Bajo.
Di bidang usaha, Usman tercatat memegang jabatan direktur di beberapa perusahaan maritim. Sejumlah perusahaan tersebut bergerak dalam layanan pelayaran dan logistik. Aktivitas bisnisnya turut menambah rekam jejak profesionalnya.
Usman juga aktif dalam organisasi profesi dan kepengurusan daerah. Ia pernah menjadi Sekretaris Jenderal GAPENSI serta Ketua DPW ISAA NTT. Sejak 2020, ia menjabat Wakil Ketua DPW PKB NTT.
Dalam karier politiknya di PKB, Usman duduk di Komisi IV DPR RI. Komisi ini membawahi bidang pertanian, lingkungan hidup, kehutanan, serta kelautan dan perikanan. Di ruang lingkup tersebut, ia turut menyuarakan isu petani, nelayan, dan tata kelola lahan.
Usman juga melaporkan harta kekayaannya pada akhir 2024 melalui LHKPN. Total kekayaannya tercatat Rp14,2 miliar yang sebagian besar berupa tanah dan bangunan. Aset lainnya berupa kendaraan, kas, dan harta bergerak lain.
Ia tumbuh dalam keluarga dengan tradisi religius yang kuat di Rote. Latar belakang tersebut turut membentuk perjalanan hidup dan kariernya.
Japanese singer Maki Otsuki’s performance is abruptly halted at an anime event in Shanghai. Her team says she has since “returned home safely”. Photo: Handout
THE EDITOR – Japanese “One Piece” singer Maki Otsuki was forced to halt her performance on stage in Shanghai, her management said, one of the latest events hit by a diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.
The Standart on 30 November 2025 said that Otsuki, known for the theme song of the popular anime, had been slated to perform for two days from Friday at the Bandai Namco Festival 2025 in the Chinese city.
However, she “had to abruptly halt her performance due to unavoidable circumstances” on Friday “even though she was in the middle of performing”, her management posted on her official website on Saturday.
It was the latest event hit in a spate of cancellations of cultural events involving Asia’s two biggest economies.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have soured this month following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
China reacted furiously to Takaichi’s remarks, summoning Tokyo’s ambassador and advising Chinese citizens against travel to Japan.
The Bandai Namco Festival 2025 was scheduled through Sunday, but the organisers announced on the Chinese social media platform WeChat that the whole event would be cancelled after “comprehensively taking into consideration various factors”, Kyodo News reported.
Popular Japanese girl idol group Momoiro Clover Z, who were due to perform at the same event Saturday, were also affected, it said.
Other artists and shows that have been forced to call off performances in China include pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki and jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, Kyodo said.
“I still strongly believe that entertainment should be a bridge that connects us, and that I should be the creator of that bridge,” Hamasaki posted on her Instagram after the cancellation of her Shanghai tour announced on Friday, just a day before her scheduled performance.
President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order during the “Winning the AI Race” summit on July 23, 2025, in Washington. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Politico)
THE EDITOR – Last week President Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence policy took a fresh twist with his latest executive order, launching a “Genesis Mission” that claims to accelerate scientific research and bolster U.S. competitiveness by using AI. The order came wreathed in grand rhetoric, including comparisons to the Manhattan Project and the Apollo program.
But for all that Trump touts the importance of American leadership in AI, in reality he’s spent much of his presidency hobbling it.
Politico on 3 December 2025 said that Trump’s AI doctrine has focused on boosting tech companies friendly with the administration, helping them dominate every aspect of people’s lives and the economy. The doctrine is driven by the idea that the United States wins the AI race if these companies control global AI — even at the cost of our kids’ mental health, gutted jobs, polluted skies and higher utility bills.
The recent executive order may seem like a welcome pivot to using AI rather than just building AI infrastructure. But unfortunately for American leadership in AI, it’s just a small step forward after three giant leaps backward. A serious effort to achieve America’s aspirations with AI has to start by reversing Trump’s damage to critical government functions.
The first giant leap backward has been a dangerous weakening of public data, the raw material required to train AI models. The federal government collects troves of data that families and businesses use every day — traffic patterns and census information, nutritional assessments and air quality reports, soil data and economic measures.
The executive order rightly focuses on the importance of data to “unleash a new age of AI-accelerated innovation and discovery.” But this comes after the administration has spent months ordering agency after agency to delete or hide data that’s politically inconvenient, and indiscriminately firing employees including those who manage valuable datasets.
Here’s what that means for AI advances. Initial research shows the eye-popping potential for AI weather forecasts that could be precise down to a city block or accurate as far ahead as a month. But that’s only possible with the sensor data that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects and curates from weather stations, ships, balloons, aircraft, satellites and buoys. The Trump administration has reduced weather balloon launches and removed hundreds of agency staff. It plans to cut back on NOAA satellites and shutter more than a dozen facilities that gather and curate data.
Politics, not policy, is guiding these decisions. As this administration tries to blind us to climate risks, it is putting Americans at risk today by undercutting conventional weather and disaster forecasting — and it’s diminishing the prospects for one of the most powerful and globally significant advances that AI could bring us.
The data problem doesn’t stop at weather. The Trump administration has also disrupted the collection of important health data. One example is data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gathered for nearly four decades from a representative sample of volunteers to understand risks in pregnancy.
That valuable data now remains scattered and hard to access, because the CDC first shuttered the database to avoid collecting data on race and ethnicity in line with the administration’s executive order against “DEI,” and then placed the staff on administrative leave. That makes it harder to learn why Black maternal mortality is more than twice the national average, or how to protect all mothers and newborns. Data on vaccine safety, farm labor, hunger, greenhouse gas reporting and international development have also been deleted or degraded.
For AI to be effective against these immensely complex challenges, the smarter move would have been to expand data collection and support the agency staff who make sure datasets are robust and accessible.
The second backward move is Trump’s cuts to federally funded research. With steady support from Congress over successive administrations, eight decades of federal research funding made it possible to start new industries, prevent and cure diseases, deter potential adversaries, understand and start to manage environmental risks and expand the boundaries of human knowledge. This research base is where AI itself came from, and to harness AI for the next generation of advances, federal support is essential.
Instead, the Trump administration has frozen grants, attacked leading research universities, curtailed high-talent immigration, ousted thousands of research agency staff and proposed a $44 billion reduction in federally funded research and development — the largest single-year cut in history.
While some take solace in the administration’s cuts sparing specific budget lines for AI research and the new executive order for Energy Department research using AI, that’s like buying more tractors while you kill off your crops. AI is a tool, not the goal itself. The federal government needs to fund not just AI researchers, but researchers in the full range of promising fields that need AI to advance — for example, biologists, materials scientists and meteorologists. It is their knowledge that will help develop AI for more effective medicines, resilient infrastructure and disaster warnings. And that’s how we create new industries that will help America maintain its global economic leadership. Trump’s cuts to publicly funded research mean lost opportunities, delays in breakthroughs and American researchers recruited to other countries hungry for our talent.
The third backward leap is the administration’s opposition to policies that protect people. The foundation for all AI applications, current and future, has to be managing AI’s risks. The obvious reason for this is the real harms that are already materializing: bot-encouraged suicides, deepfakes nudes, worker surveillance and job loss, and new forms of fraud. In addition, AI advances won’t meet their potential if people don’t trust the technology.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration and its allies in Congress are trying to undo or preclude state laws that protect Americans from real harms. While the previous congressional attempt at a moratorium on state AI laws failed 99-1 in the Senate, the White House has been itching to try again, and some in Congress are looking for ways to revive this misguided policy.
The American people have a different view. A recent Pew poll found that 50 percent of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI, while only 10 percent are more excited than concerned. Democratic and Republican voters across dozens of polls strongly support AI regulations. Effective regulation of industrial production reduced pollution. Effective regulation for seat belts saved hundreds of thousands of lives. AI is an even broader technology that will reshape so many facets of our lives. It needs effective regulation that builds trust, so Americans can seize the beneficial advances AI can provide.
To be sure, the Trump administration has done some good on AI. For example, it is expanding a pilot of the National AI Research Resource to support researchers and startups with AI computing resources, and it has embraced open source and open weight AI models that are increasingly important in the global AI race. The recent order on AI for science could make some advancements in accelerating how AI is used in scientific domains, though it remains to be seen how this work is executed.
But these are modest elements compared to the rest of the Trump AI agenda — a series of measures that focus on providing expensive chips and datacenters for the world’s richest companies.
AI is a powerful technology that can help America meet its great ambitions. A different, better AI doctrine would recognize that the work ahead is much more than supercomputers, data centers and chips. It would recognize the expansive possibilities of AI beyond today’s narrow commercial focus, move nimbly to manage risks, and boost our national capacity to develop and deploy AI applications that transform Americans’ lives. It would define larger national objectives that public and private organizations achieve together, rather than ceding our future to a small group of billionaires whose most obvious imperative is the valuations of their companies, not the value they add to our lives.
