This article is part of the History of Indonesia series
See also: Timeline of Indonesian History
Prehistory
Early kingdoms
Kutai (4th century)
Tarumanagara (358–669)
Kalingga (6th–7th century)
Srivijaya (7th–13th centuries)
Sailendra (8th–9th centuries)
Sunda Kingdom (669–1579)
Medang Kingdom (752–1045)
Kediri (1045–1221)
Singhasari (1222–1292)
Majapahit (1293–1500)
The rise of Muslim states
Spread of Islam (1200–1600)
Sultanate of Ternate (1257–present)
Malacca Sultanate (1400–1511)
Sultanate of Demak (1475–1548)
Aceh Sultanate (1496–1903)
Sultanate of Banten (1526–1813)
Mataram Sultanate (1500s–1700s)
European colonisation
The Portuguese (1512–1850)
Dutch East India Co. (1602–1800)
Dutch East Indies (1800–1942)
The emergence of Indonesia
National awakening (1908–1942)
Japanese occupation (1942–45)
National revolution (1945–50)
Independent Indonesia
Liberal democracy (1950–57)
Guided Democracy (1957–65)
Start of the New Order (1965–66)
The New Order (1966–98)
Reformasi era (1998–present)
v t e

Kutai is the traditional name of a historic region in East Kalimantan in Indonesia on Borneo, a Dayak people of the region with a language of the same name and their historic states. Today the name is preserved in the names of three regencies in East Kalimantan, the Kutai Kartanegara Regency, the West Kutai Regency and the East Kutai Regency. The major river of the region was and is the Mahakam River.

History[link]

The history is usually divided into two periods, that of the early Kutai Martadipura phase some time around 350–400 and the later Kutai Kartanegara phase beginning around 1300. The first period produced the earliest known inscriptions on Indonesia.

Kutai Martadipura[link]

An ancient yūpa of Mulawarman, king of Kutai

A Yupa with inscription in the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta

Kutai Martadipura is a 4th century Indianized kingdom located in the Kutai area, East Kalimantan. It is one of the earliest ancient kingdom in Indonesian history. Seven stone pillars, or yūpa (“sacrificial posts”), have been found in Kutai, Kaman Estuary, near the Mahakam River.^[1] The plinths bear an inscription in the Pallava script of India reading "A gift to the Brahmin priests". The style of the script has been dated to the last half the 4th century.^[2] It is believed these religions were brought to Indonesia around the 2nd and 4th centuries, respectively, when Indian traders arrived on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi.^[3]

The names of three rulers are known from the inscriptions. The first ruler mentioned is Kuḍungga, the “lord of men” (narendra), his son Aśwawarman, styled the “founder of the dynasty” (vaṇśa-kartṛ) and grandson of the first and son of the later, Mūlawarman called the “lord of kings” (rājendra). As Kuṇḍungga does not seem to be a name of Sanskrit hinduistic style while the other two are, it is presumed he was a leader of local origin and it was his son Aśwawarman that adopted the hinduistic belief.^[2] It was Mūlawarman who let these inscriptions be made. While nothing of the military actions of his two predecessors is known, "Raja" Mūlawarman is stated to have conquered his neighbours in battle. He is also said to have increased the land of Kutai by a local ritual called "asvaredjwa". This ritual required a horse released to his land. The footsteps of the freely roaming horse were taken as evidence that this land belonged to Kutai. Mulawarman was also known for his tribute of gold to his God. The name of his kingdom is not mentioned on the inscriptions nor do any other documents in other countries relate to a kingdom at this time in this region. It is not known what became of the kingdom after these pillars had been erected. It may be possible that the name Kutai, as in Tuñjung Kute of the 1365 Javanese Majapahit poem Nāgarakṛtāgama is as ancient and reflects the original name used a thousand years earlier.

Kutai Kartanegara[link]

Around the end of the 13th century the kingdom of Kutai Kartanegara was established in the region of Tepian Batu or Kutai Lama. The first known ruler is Aji Batara Agung Dewa Sakti, who is thought to have ruled from 1300 to 1325.^[1] Aji Pangeran Sinum Panji Mendapa, who ruled 1635–1650, was able to conquer the kingdom of Kutai Martadipura and merged the two realms thus Kutai Kartanegara Ing Martadipura.^[1]

In 1667 the Dutch V.O.C. attacked Makassar on the island of Sulawesi leading to the downfall of the Bugis Kingdom of Gowa. Some of the Bugis under the leadership of Lamohang Daeng Mangkona or Pua Ado I immigrated to Kutai on neighbouring Borneo (Kalimantan) and the ruler of Kutai allowed them to settle in Kampung Melantai around the Karang Mumus River, now known as Kampung Selili. This settlement eventually developed into the modern town of Samarinda.

Islam took hold in the region since the 17th century (most of the Bugis were Moslems) and Aji Muhammad Idris, ruling 1732–1739?, was the first ruler to have an Islamic name.

After a civil war Aji Imbut, after finally becoming the ruler as Aji Muhammad Muslihuddin in 1780, moved the capital in 1782 from Pemarangan to Tepian Pandan.^[1] The name of the capital city eventually developed from Tangga Arung to its present form of Tenggarong.

In 1844 the Dutch defeated the Sultan Aji Muhammad Salehudin, forcing him into exile, and took direct control of Kutai.

The Japanese invaded the region in 1942 and acknowledged a "Kooti Kingdom", that was a subject of the Tenno. In 1945 Kutai joined, along with its neighbours, into the East Kalimantan federation.

In 1949 Kutai finally became part of the United Republic of Indonesia.

The Kutai Language[link]

The traditional language of the region is referred to as Tanggarong Kutai Malay and is considered a local Malay language,^[4][5] such as Banjarese and Bukit Malay to the south, Kota Bangun Kutai Malay to the west, Berau Malay to the north and others more distant.^[6] As such Tanggarong Kutai belongs to the large Austronesian family of languages. It is part of the Sunda–Sulawesi languages branch, together with Malay and Iban as well as Buginese from southern Sulawesi that is also spoken in Samarinda. It is somewhat less related to the Borneo–Philippines languages branch that can be found upstream of Kutai such as the Kenyah and Kayan language groups.

See also[link]

• Kutai National Park

References[link]

• Kutai Martadipura
  • Vogel, J.Ph. 1918 The yūpa inscriptions of King Mūlavarman from Koetei (East Borneo). Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 74:216–218.
  • Chhabra, B.Ch. 1965 Expansion of Indo-Aryan culture during Pallava rule (as evidenced by inscriptions). Delhi: Munshi Ram Manohar Lal. 50–52, 85–92;
  • Casparis, J.G. de 1975 Indonesian palaeography: a history of writing in Indonesia from the beginning to c. A.D. 1500. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 14–18

External links[link]

• The Museum of Mulawarman
• Description of the Erau, a traditional yearly Kutai culture festival.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since April 2012. It may have been edited by a contributor who has a close connection with its subject. Tagged since August 2010. It may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Tagged since December 2009.

Faisal Qureshi (born 16 August 1964 in Karachi) is a Pakistan entrepreneur, electrical engineer, and a founder chair person of a non-profit organization Loose Ends Pakistan, anchor person of several TV talk shows, currently including Bang e Dara on News One, Loose Ends on Business Plus and Ankahi on Samaa TV, and formerly Breakfast at Dawn on Dawn News, and founder chairperson of the high IQ society Mensa Pakistan, along with being the ex-Chairman of P@SHA - the Pakistan Software Houses Association.

Media[link]

Bange Dara[link]

Faisal has launched his new show Bange Dara on News One. The show started on Monday 29-June-2009. Bange Dara "The call of the marching bell" or "The call of the caravan" was the first Urdu philosophical poetry book by Allama Iqbal. Bange Dara will air every week-night at 11:00PM Pakistan Time and rerun Tuesday-Saturday at 7:10AM and 02:05PM.

Ankahi[link]

Faisal Qureshi anchored a talk show "Ankahi" on Samaa TV, between April 2008 and June 2009. Ankahi gained tremendous popularity among the educated middle class, students, youth, and the general population of Pakistan, because this was the only show that addressed their PROBLEMS. Ankahi was a platform for the patriot in all of us and focuses on varying subjects which can be candidly discussed for the much needed re-education of today’s misinformed Pakistani. Ankahi ended on 05-June-2009. Ankahi shows can be downloaded from The Ankahi Library and www.pkaffairs.com

Breakfast At Dawn[link]

Faisal hosted the morning show on Dawn News TV, Breakfast at Dawn with co-host Ayeshah Alam. The casual yet crisp talk show focused on current affairs, sport, business, health, etc. and was aired on weekdays on Dawn News, a Pakistani News Channel run by the Dawn Group of Newspapers.

Loose Ends TV Show[link]

Faisal co-hosted the popular TV show Loose Ends aired on Business Plus every weekend from 19 May 2006 to 31 March 2007.

Organizations[link]

Mensa Pakistan[link]

Faisal was the founder chair person of Mensa Pakistan from 1995 to 1998. Mensa is an international society whose only qualification for membership is a score in the top 2% of the general population on a standardized intelligence test. Faisal became a member of Mensa International and started the Pakistan chapter of the organization in 1995.

Loose Ends Pakistan[link]

Faisal is a founding member of Loose Ends Pakistan, a non-profit organization targeted towards arousing a desire to change among the youth in Pakistan. Loose Ends Pakistan, a by-product of the TV show Loose Ends, was registered in January 2007, and aims to identify and foster capabilities of socially aware people for the benefit of society and humanity.

Education[link]

Pakistan[link]

Faisal attended Christ the King School and Saint Paul's English High School in Karachi, for his primary education. He then attended Habib Public School from 1973 to 1979, from where he passed his matric. He then attended Dayaram Jethamal Science College between 1979 and 1982 for his F.Sc.

United States[link]

After completing his secondary education in Pakistan, from 1979 to 1981 he attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he obtained a B.S. degree in Electrical engineering. During this time he was active with various student organizations like The Union International Committee and the International Students Association, of which he was also the chair person for one year.

External links[link]

• Faisal Qureshi's blog
• Faisal Qureshi's Personal Website
• Faisal Qureshi's PakistaniBloggers.net Profile

Lutfur Rahman (Bengali: লুফুর রহমান) is a community activist and local politician in London, England. He became the first directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010, having previously been the leader of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council from 2008 to 2010.

Early life[link]

Lutfur Rahman was born in Bangladesh, and then moved to the United Kingdom at a young age. He grew up in Tower Hamlets and attended the Manor Primary School in Bow, the Lawdale Junior School in Bethnal Green and Bow School.

Career[link]

Rahman qualified as a solicitor and became a partner in a legal firm, specialising in family law.^[2]

Activities[link]

Rahman has taken part in local civil society initiatives including Member and General Secretary (1987–89) of Progressive Youth Organisation, Spitalfields and Founding Member and first Treasurer (1990) of Keen Students Supplementary School (KSS). He was General Secretary of Community Alliance for Police Accountability (CAPA) and Chair of the Tower Hamlets Law Centre. Rahman has also been a Non-Executive Director of Barts and The London NHS Trust.^[3]

Rahman was elected as a Labour Councillor for the Spitalfields and Banglatown ward in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. He has been part of the leadership of Tower Hamlets Council, serving as Lead member for Education for two years and, from 2006–2007, Lead Member for Culture. In February 2007, Rahman announced his intention to be the prospective Labour Party candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow. However, he came second to Rushanara Ali who went on to win the Parliamentary seat.

In April 2008 he was elected Leader of the majority Labour Group on Tower Hamlets Council, and therefore Leader of the Council. After the local elections In May 2010, at which Labour increased their number of councillors, Lutfur Rahman was replaced as Leader by Cllr. Helal Uddin Abbas.^[4]

Directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets[link]

In September 2010, Rahman was selected^[5] by the Tower Hamlets Labour Party as its candidate to be the first directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets. However his candidacy was controversial and his placement on the shortlist of preferred Labour Party candidates was withdrawn on several occasions before it was finally confirmed following legal action on behalf of Rahman.^[6][7][8] He was finally elected as Labour's Mayoral candidate by Tower Hamlets Borough Labour Party members receiving 433 votes, compared to John Biggs with 251 votes and Helal Abbas with 157 votes.^[9] He was declared as the winning candidate by Ken Clark, Director of London Regional Labour Party. However, after allegations that he was closely linked to an Islamic fundamentalist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe, and that he had personally signed up fake members in order to win the selection, he was removed as Labour's candidate by the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and replaced by the 'third man' Helal Uddin Abbas.^[8][10]

He was at first said to be considering urgent legal action to be reinstated,^[11] but declared on 23 September that he would stand as an Independent candidate.^[12] The Respect Party declared its support for him.^[1]

Rahman presents himself as a social democrat, but to the left of the official Labour candidate.^[1] A Labour councillor described Rahman's campaign as 'a hugely well-financed operation,' but he claimed to meet all his own costs from his earnings as a solicitor, including the launch event at the Troxy and the printing of election leaflets.^[1][13]

He was elected with over 51% of the vote receiving 23,283 votes. Labour's candidate came second with 11,254, Conservative 5,348, Liberal Democrat 2,800, Green 2,300.^[14] He became Britain's first Muslim executive mayor.^[2]

Rahman invited councillors from mainstream parties to join his cabinet, but only five did so, all former Labour members. In February 2011 a Guardian blog report covering his early performance as Mayor concluded that he had proved "highly adept at political jujutsu - drawing strength from his enemies' attack", including unfair branding of the borough as "Islamist" in the tabloids, and was working with the local Labour MPs to resist the Government's cuts.^[15]

Later a Labour Party investigation report stated that 16 members not registered in the constituency had participated in the selection, but which candidate they voted for was not known, and in any event these would not have changed the outcome of the selection process.^[15]

Other controversies[link]

Rahman's leadership came under criticism in June 2009, when he reportedly stated that he had no confidence in Tower Hamlets' Chief Executive, Martin Smith, and told him to ‘go home and consider your future.’^[16] The news came on the eve of voting for the European elections, which Smith nevertheless attended as the council's returning officer. For his dismissal over a personality clash, Smith's terms of employment, negotiated when the council was under the Labour Party leadership of Cllr Denise Jones, entitled him to a payout in the region of £500,000.^[16]

Andrew Gilligan in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary in March 2010, and in a series of Daily Telegraph blogs and articles, accused Rahman of achieving the council leadership with the help of the Islamic Forum of Europe.^[4][17][18] The IFE was accused by the local Labour MP, Jim Fitzpatrick, of infiltrating the council and the Labour Party.^[4] It was further claimed by Gilligan that during Rahman's leadership of the council, millions of pounds of public money were paid to organisations run by the IFE, and that the results included stocks of extremist literature being made available in public libraries.^[13] However, Rahman denied in October 2010 that he was in league with the IFE.^[1] IFE issued a statement denying Rahman was a member of the IFE and stating that Abbas, Labour's replacement condidate, had also had public and private meetings with the IFE.^[19] In 2011, Rahman complained to the Press Complaints Commission about his description by Gilligan and the Telegraph as "extremist-backed" and as having "close links" to the IFE. The Commission rejected the complaint, saying that the description was "not misleading." ^[20]

Conservative councillor Peter Golds asked the police and the Electoral Commission to investigate Rahman for alleged undeclared donations from Brick Lane restauranteur Shiraj Haque to fund Rahman's legal action against the Labour Party.^[15][21] Interviewed for the Guardian in October 2010, Rahman dismissed the complaint and insisted that, like the electoral campaign, he meets all his own expenses and legal costs.^[1] Subsequently the Press Complaints Commission upheld a complaint by Rahman against Andrew Gilligan for repeating these allegations in the Daily Telegraph without stating that the police had decided that there was no case to answer, causing the reporting to be "inaccurate and misleading".^[22]

In 2011, the Evening Standard newspaper reported that Rahman had spent £115,000 on a "vanity office" for himself, despite Tower Hamlets being one of the most deprived boroughs in London^[23]

See also[link]

• British Bangladeshi
• Directly elected mayors in the United Kingdom
• List of British Bangladeshis

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mayor of Tower Hamlets webpage
• Lutfur Rahman 2010 mayor election website
• Meet your councillor: Councillor Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets Council website
• British Bangladeshi Who's Who 2008 - Cllr. Lutfur Rahman
• CityMayors profile
• Lutfur Rahman interviewed by Mehdi Hasan in New Statesman, November 2010