From the desk of National President
ICCC (INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE) ADALAH MIMBAR DIMANA PESAN KRISTUS BAGI KITA DI ZAMAN INI DIJABARKAN, DIBAGIKAN DAN DINYATAKAN TERHADAP DUNIA BISNIS
NATIONAL BOARD National President Tonny Soetjoadi Vice Presidents: Admin/Secretary Abraham Setiabudi
Finance/Treasurer: Johanis S. Najoan
Membership/Mentoring/ Network Simon Aditan
Teaching / Training Juwono
Business Development/ Micro-Enterprise Umbu Pekuwali
Intercessors Mohan U. Vasandani (Mrs.) Josephine S. Sitorus
BOARD OF ADVISORS Bunan Djambek Eliezer H. Hardjo Manimbul L. Sitorus
Kantor Nasional ICCC Indonesia:
Website: www.iccc-indonesia.com Pertokoan Pulo Mas Blok B I / 8, Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan. Jakarta 13260 Telp (021) 4890211, fax: (021) 4722274. E-mail:
[email protected]
Salam jumpa di Newsletter ICCC edisi bulan Maret 2015. Para anggota ICCC dan pembaca Newsletter ICCC Indonesia yang terkasih, rencana untuk mengadakan Annual Members Gathering (AMG) 2015 sudah mengkristal dan kami sebut sebagai acara The ICCC Bali 2015 Gathering dengan tema “Reaching the Top” pada tanggal Jumat, 17-18 April 2015 di Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa, Bali. Adalah harapan kami agar para anggota ICCC di seluruh dunia dan pembaca Newsletter ICCC Indonesia ini dapat mencatat dan me-reserve tanggal tersebut untuk bergabung bersama kami dalam acara penting tersebut, khususnya para anggota ICCC dan pembaca yang bermukim di Jawa Timur, Bali, dan propinsi-propinsi lainnya di Indonesia bagian Timur. The ICCC Bali 2015 Gathering akan diisi dengan pembicara dari ICCC Regional & International serta ICCC Indonesia, yaitu: Allan Currie, mantan ICCC Australia National President Stanley Kee, ICCC Malaysia National President James Lockett, yang akan berbagi pengetahuannya tentang the World Economic Forum, yang akan menyingkapkan peluang & ancaman bagi para pebisnis Kerajaan Allah Johanis S. Najoan, ICCC Indonesia National Board Benjamin B. Juwono, ICCC Indonesia National Board Informasi lebih lanjut dan formulir pendaftaran Acara The ICCC Bali 2015 Gathering tersebut dapat dilihat juga dalam Newsletter ini, pada halaman 2 dan 3. Re. ICCC Bali Sub-Chamber Brother Johanis s. Najoan, Umbu Pekuwali, dan sister Mieno L. Menayang yang bekerjasama dan dengan dukungn penuh oleh anggota ICCC Indonesia di Bali, yaitu sister Sylvie, telah melakukan kunjungan awal bulan lalu sebagai persiapan awal pembentukan ICCC Sub-Chamber Bali, dan akan dilanjutkan dengan kunjungan pemantapan bersama anggota ICCC National Board yang lain pada bulan Maret ini. Mari kita semua dukung dalam doa agar rencana tersebut berjalan lancar dan Sub-Chamber Bali dapat diresmikan pada acara The ICCC Bali 2015 Gathering sesuai dengan jadwal. Sampai jumpa di edisi bulan depan, dan Tuhan Yesus memberkati anda sekeluarga. Tonny Soetjoadi National President ICCC Indonesia www.iccc-indonesia.com
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FORUM ANGGOTA
MEMBERSHIP FEE
Bagi anda yang ingin bergabung dan member yang akan memperpanjang kartu keanggotaan anda untuk tahun 2015 agar segera menghubung Simon Aditan – V.P. Membership Domain (HP: +62816974647 atau email:
[email protected] Annual Membership Fee untuk tahun 2015 kategori Developing Nation menjadi Rp. 700.000 dimana US$ 50 dikirim ke Kantor Pusat di Swedia sebagai syarat dan kewajiban International Membership Membership Fee dapat ditransfer ke rekening ICCC Indonesia atau FORUKIN dibawah ini, dan mengirimkan bukti transfernya dengan fax ke alamat yang tercantum pada halamn pertama kiri bawah dari Newsletter ini: Rekening Bank: CIMB NIAGA BANK Cabang Senen - Jakarta No. 200-01-00012-00-0 a/n : Forum Komunikasi Usahawan Kristen Indonesia (FORUKIN).
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Two great lies have been promoted in our culture during the past 20 years. They are told to children in school, students in college, and workers throughout the business world. The first great lie is, “If you work hard enough, you can be anything you want to be.” It is often sold as the American Dream, expressed in sayings such as, “In America, anyone can grow up to be president.” The second great lie is like the first one, yet it’s possibly even more damaging: “You can be the best in the world.” These lies are accepted by many Christians as well as non-Christians. They catastrophically damage our view of work and vocation because they have distorted the biblical view of success. These two lies define success in 21st century Western culture. Success, defined as being the master of your own destiny, has become an idol. New York City pastor Tim Keller in his book Counterfeit Gods describes the idol in these words: More than other idols, personal success and achievement lead to a sense that we ourselves are God, that our security and value rest in our own wisdom, strength and performance. To be the very best at what you do, to be at the top of the heap, means no one is like you. You are supreme. Thankfully, Scripture gives us a strong antidote to the culture’s misguided idea of success. And nowhere is it more strongly stated than in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Through this parable, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like a man going on a long journey. Before he leaves, he gives his three servants different amounts of money, denominated by talents. To the first servant, the man gives five talents, to the second two talents, and to the last one talent—each according to his ability. Upon his return the master asks what they did with the money. The first and second servants doubled their investments and received their master’s praise. The third servant, who was given one talent, safeguarded the money but did nothing to increase
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it. As a result, he was condemned by the master for his inactivity. The Parable of the Talents teaches us five important things about the biblical meaning of success while dispelling the two great cultural lies. First, this parable teaches us that success is a product of our work. In the book of Genesis we see that God placed Adam in the garden to work it and take care of it; we were made to work. As Christians we have a mission that our Lord expects us to accomplish in the here and now. We are called to steward all we have been given while we wait for our Savior’s return. This is the dominion we are to exercise over all of God’s creation. This is what we were made to do. We are to work, using our talents to glorify God, to serve the common good, and to further His kingdom. The medieval church interpreted the talents in Jesus’ parable as spiritual gifts which God bestows on Christians. During the Reformation, John Calvin helped shape the modern meaning of the word talent when he defined the talents as gifts from God in the form of a person’s calling and natural ability. Calvin made it clear that the use of our talents is not restricted to the church or to pious duties. It encompasses the whole of creation. Therefore, Calvin’s doctrine of callings emphasizes the utility, activity, and purposeful nature of God’s work in the world. Alister McGrath, in an article on the topic of calling, suggests that for Calvin: The idea of a calling or vocation is first and foremost about being called by God, to serve Him within his world. Work was thus seen as an activity by which Christians could deepen their faith, leading it on to new qualities of commitment to God. Activity within the world, motivated, informed, and sanctioned by Christian faith, was the supreme means by which the believer could demonstrate his or her commitment and thankfulness to God. To do anything for God, and to do it well, was the fundamental hallmark of authentic Christian faith. Diligence and dedication in one’s everyday life are, Calvin thought, a proper response to God. Far too many evangelical Christians today see their salvation as simply a “bus ticket to heaven” and believe it really does not matter what they do while
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they wait for “the bus.” The Parable of the Talents teaches us what we are supposed to do while we await the return of our King. We are to work, using our talents to glorify God, to serve the common good, and to further His kingdom. According to Calvin in his New Testament Commentaries, God put us here to work in the kingdom, and “the nature of the kingdom of Christ is that it every day grows and improves.” Biblical success is working diligently in the here and now using all the talents God has given us to produce the return expected by the Master. Second, the Parable of the Talents teaches that God always gives us everything we need to do what he has called us to do. Have you ever wondered what a talent is worth in today’s dollars? It is hard to know for sure, yet whatever its exact value, in the New Testament a talent indicates a large sum of money, maybe even as much as a million dollars in today’s currency. We are tempted to feel sorry for the servant who received only one talent, but in reality he received as much as a million dollars from the master and buried it in his back yard. Is it any wonder the master was so upset? He was given more than enough to meet the master’s expectations. Just as the master in the Parable of the Talents expects his servants to do more than passively preserve what has been entrusted to them, so God expects us to generate a return by using our talents toward productive ends. The servant who received five talents had everything necessary to produce five more; the servant who received two had everything necessary to produce two more; and the servant who received one had everything necessary to produce one more. John Calvin encouraged believers to be involved as salt and light in the world. In his book A Kind of Life Imposed on Man, scholar Paul Marshall describes Calvin’s challenge to believers as a call “to work, to perform, to develop, to progress, to change, to choose, to be active, and to overcome until the day of their death or the return of their Lord.” We can be confident in the eventual success of our work because it is what God created us to do. The Apostle Paul writes, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”
(Ephesians 2:10). We seldom associate this verse with our vocational work, but we should. Third, the Parable of the Talents teaches that we are not all created equal. The most overlooked part of the story is the second half of verse 15: “each according to his ability.” The master understood that the one-talent servant was not capable of producing as much as the five-talent servant. We want to protest that this is unfair. In fact there is a current debate in our society regarding income inequality (see sidebar below). Yet we know this is true from our own experience. Diversity is woven into the very fabric of creation. In a free society, absent dishonesty and cronyism, disparity of wages is not a sign of injustice; it is the result of God’s diversity within His creation. But even though we’re not created equal in regard to the talents we’re given, there is equality found in the Parable of the Talents and in God’s economy; it comes from the fact that it takes just as much work for the five-talent servant to produce five more talents as it does the two-talent servant to produce two more talents. This is why the reward given to each by the master is the same. The master measures success by degree of effort, as should we. Many today would cry out against the five-talent servant’s wealth by saying he has too much money. Some would accuse him of being part of the greedy “one percent.” Yet as Christians, we are told in the Scriptures not to envy or covet our neighbors’ possessions. Professor Glenn Sunshine at Central Connecticut State University suggests that although Scripture has some very harsh things to say about the wealthy, this does not mean that all of them are evil or under divine judgment. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job were rich and yet were also approved by God. Just as poverty doesn’t guarantee virtue, wealth does not guarantee vice. … Scripture also tells us that God gives us the power to make wealth, and that he delights in the prosperity of his servants (Psalm 35:27)—which includes material prosperity (Deuteronomy 28:1113). So it is clear that wealth is not necessarily evil. Some Christians go as far as saying that making a lot of money is outright sinful. It could cause us and others to stumble, so we should be satisfied with some arbitrarily set amount. Yet if the five-talent
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servant had taken this advice and stopped working after making only an additional two talents, he might have received a harsh rebuke from the master! Why Does Income Inequality Exist? Is the presence of income inequality in America infair? Does it go against biblical teachings? Why does it occur? An Institute for Faith, Work & Economics report provides both an economic and biblical explanation of why income inequality exists: Diversity is a biblical premise of Creation. We are born with different gifts. Scripture tells us that we are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), and that implies uniqueness and creativity. We’re also created with a unique set of spiritual gifts with which to further God’s kingdom (1 Corinthians 12:411). By focusing on our gifts, we can unleash our comparative advantage and bring value to the marketplace by serving others. Economists refer to our uniqueness as comparative advantage. A good example of this is in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents in which a rich man gives his slaves different amounts of money, according to their ability (Matthew 25:14-30). Focusing on using our gifts frees us to be more fruitful. If one individual or company can produce a good or service at a lower cost, then they are better off specializing in the production of that good/service and trading with others. In a free society, absent cronyism, disparity of wages is not a sign of injustice. Because gifts are different and value in the marketplace is subjective, incomes will be different. Income inequality is then inseparable from a fallen world in which scarcity abounds. However, we are called to seek justice and care for the poor. This not only means gospel-centered ministry; it also means we should understand where income inequality is natural and challenge the status quo where it is unjust. If we care about reducing poverty, we should be concerned less about income inequality and more
about the relative prosperity of those at the bottom and their income mobility. In a market economy, most people start at a lower income bracket and move to higher incomes. As they gain skills, knowledge, experience, and awareness of what they are good at, they earn more income over time. All this is based on people having the chance to use their gifts and talents to serve others. Christians must be leaders in cultivating and protecting an economic environment that creates opportunity for those in poverty to enjoy upward mobility through the dignity of work. An opportunity society is the best way to unleash the creativity and dignity with which we are created and serve others with our gifts. A system of free-market (voluntary) exchange supported by well-defined private property rights protected under the rule of law is the only empirically-tested way to protect human dignity, unleash our creativity, and foster income mobility. In summary, income inequality is a natural part of the human condition and is not necessarily unjust. Understanding economics can help us better nurture and sustain a flourishing society. In a sermon on money, John Wesley once preached that, as a Christian, you should earn all you can, give all you can, and save all you can (without interfering with your other biblical commitments such as taking care of your health, family, etc.). Many Christians are also concerned about the connection between wealth and influence. They ask, “Don’t the wealthy have more political influence than the non-wealthy, and in our system isn’t that wrong?” It is wrong only when businesses and special interests curry favor from the government in the form of subsidies, bailouts, and legislation to protect their company from market competition. Economists call this “rent-seeking” or “cronyism,” and it is certainly on the rise in this country.
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Fourth, the Parable of the Talents teaches that we work for the Master, not our own selfish purposes. The money that is given to the servants is not their own. The money they earn with the master’s capital is not theirs to keep. The servants are only stewards of the master’s investment, and it is the quality of their stewardship that the master seeks to measure. A poignant scene in the 1981 Academy Awardwinning film “Chariots of Fire” depicts Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian, preparing to run in the 1924 Olympics. Liddell’s athletic success has made him a celebrity. His sister believes that Eric’s popularity has caused him to forget his promise to return to China as a missionary. Liddell assures her that he will return to China, but first he must run in the Olympic Games. He believes that God made him for a purpose, but God also made him fast. When he runs, Liddell says, he feels God’s pleasure. He goes on to say, “To give that up would be to hold Him in contempt. To win is to honor Him.” Like Liddell, we should maximize the use of our talents not for our own selfish purposes, but to honor Him. It is all about our attitude, the motivation that resides in our hearts. We know that we work in a fallen world. Because of the curse of sin, our work will be difficult, and we will not feel God’s pleasure all the time or at the level we will enjoy in the world to come. But we should feel satisfaction and joy from doing our best with what God has given us in the place where His providence puts us, seeking to win in order to honor Him. Finally, the Parable of the Talents shows that we will be held accountable. The Parable of the Talents is not about salvation or works righteousness, but about how we use our work to fulfill our earthly calling. It is about wholelife stewardship, or what I call “stewardship with a capital ‘S.’” Christians have not been taught that stewardship is about much more than tithing to the church and taking care of their personal finances. In the opening chapter of Genesis we find what is called the Cultural Mandate. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living
creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:28). This mandate was meant not only for Adam and Eve, but for us as well. It is our job description and still stands as God’s directive for our stewardship of His creation. Nancy Pearcey, in her book Total Truth, writes: The first phrase, “be fruitful and multiply,” means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phrase, “subdue the earth,” means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, and compose music. This passage is sometimes called the Cultural Mandate because it tells us that our original purpose was to create cultures, build civilizations— nothing less. We are more than merely permitted to engage every part of the created order. We are told that the created world is ours, given to us as a trust from God Himself. We are to engage it, announcing and exercising the presence and rule of Christ over every part of it. This includes the arts and the sciences, social justice and economics, churches and U2 concerts, “The Passion of the Christ,” and “Les Misérables.” The unfaithful steward in this parable didn’t so much waste the master’s money; he wasted an opportunity. As a result, he was judged wicked and lazy. We are responsible for what we do for God with what we have been given, and one day we will be held responsible. What we hear from the Master on that day is up to us. So how should we define the biblical meaning of success? The late John Wooden, a committed Christian who became the most successful college basketball coach in history, was once asked how he would define success. He replied: Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. Now certainly this is a large part of the biblical meaning of success; we are to take the talents and opportunities God gives us and make the most of them. Yet, we still need to ask ourselves one more question: “Am I working to make myself look good, or am I working to glorify God?” The answer is almost counterintuitive; when we work for Him and
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the furtherance of His kingdom in everything we do and especially in our vocational callings, we truly find the purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction that we all desperately seek. We work at the pleasure of the Lord, and our work is to be driven by our love of the Master. Our only desire should be to hear Him say, “Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Master.” Hugh Whelchel is executive director of the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (tifwe.org) and author of How then SHOULD We Work? Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Work.
VISI DAN TUJUAN ICCC International Christian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) lahir dari kepatuhan terhadap visi yang diberikan selama kurun waktu enam tahun kepada seorang usahawan Swedia J. Gunnar Olson, yang diteguhkan dengan nubuatan dan terbukanya pintu kesempatan disekitarnya yang sebelumnya tertutup. ICCC merupakan panggilan yang serius dan menantang bagi pengusaha Kristen untuk mengenali jaman yang sedang kita masuki dan dengan terang dari pengenalan itu memasuki dimensi iman yang baru yang disediakan bagi mereka yang …” takut akan TUHAN … berbicara satu sama lain … dan menghormati namaNya.” (Maleakhi 3: 16) Visi ini memanggil para pengusaha dan kaum profesi di seluruh dunia yang terbeban untuk saling berhubungan, bertukar pendapat, memperdagang-kan barang dan menyediakan jasa, saling mendukung dan menguatkan secara rohani dan materi. Berdasarkan eksistensi dari visi itu sendiri memproklamirkan otoritas Kristus yang mutlak diseluruh dunia. Pada intinya ICCC adalah kehendak TUHAN untuk memperluas tali kasih-Nya, melalui gereja-Nya, didalam dunia usaha. Hal ini menuntut para pelaku bisnis mencari terlebih dahulu Kerajaan-Nya dan segala Kebenaran-Nya.
Urapan tersedia bagi mereka yang dengan mata melihat dan telinga mendengar panggilan jaman. Sebagaimana halnya Raja Daud yang menerima urapan untuk menjadi raja, jauh sebelum dia menjadi Raja, yang keadaan pada saat urapan diberikan sama sekali tidak mungkin bagi Daud untuk menjadi Raja, demikianlah ICCC memanggil para pengusaha Kristen sebelum peristiwanya terjadi untuk mengalami kebebasan masuk ke dalam dimensi baru, dimana sasaran, strategi dan perencanaan bersama-sma diwujud-nyatakan sesuai dengan iman di dalam Kristus. ICCC mencanangkan panggilan itu sejalan dengan rencana TUHAN bagi jaman ini sebagai kunci memperoleh berkat dan pertumbuhan dan agar dapat bangkit berkemenangan diatas gelombang ombak yang mengancam. Panggilan ICCC: “Mereka akan menjadi milik kesayanganKu sendiri, firman TUHAN semesta Alam pada hari yang Kusiapkan. Aku akan mengasihi mereka sama seperti seseorang menyayangi anaknya yang melayani dia. Maka kamu akan melihat kembali perbedaan antara orang benar dan orang fasik, antara orang yang beribadah kepada TUHAN dan orang yang tidak beribadah kepadaNya.” (Maleakhi 3: 17-18)
KEYAKINAN IMAN ICCC:
Satu-satunya TUHAN pencipta segala sesuatu dalam kesatuan Trinitas: Bapa, Anak, dan Roh Kudus.
Keilahian TUHAN Yesus Kristus. Kelahiran-Nya dari rahim seorang Perawan. Karya penebusan dosa manusia melalui kematian-Nya diatas kayu salib. Kebangkitan-Nya. Hak otoriatas diri-Nya atas dunia dan Kedatangan-Nya yang kedua kali dalam Kuasa dan Kemuliaan-Nya.
Alkitab, sepenuhnya sebagai Firman TUHAN yang mem8berikan inspirasi dan berbagai peraturan bagi kehidupan yang dilandasi iman.
Keselamatan pribadi orang berdosa dan kebutuhannya untuk mengalami proses regenerasi melalui8 karya Roh Kudus dalam menuju menjadikannya sebagai manusia yang dikehendaki oleh TUHAN, seutuhnya.
Transformed Working Life (TWL) adalah Pelatihan resmi dari Kantor Internasional bagi anggota ICCC dalam memperlengkapi anggota dengan pengetahuan dan pemahaman latar belakang, tujuan dan penerapan prinsipprinsip Kerajaan TUHAN bagi dunia bisnis dan profesi. TWL diperuntukkan bagi anggota dan dapat diikuti secara Cuma-Cuma, namun terbuka juga bagi siap2a saja yang berminat untuk mengikutinya.
TWL
diselenggarakan dalam bahasa Indonesia dan dilengkapi dengan buku panduannya, yang telah diterjemahkan kedalam Bahasa Indonesia juga, sehingga para peserta betul-betul akan memperoleh manfa’at yang besar dan mengalami transformasi dalam kehidupan pribadi maupun bisnisnya. TWL difasilitasi oleh anggota National Board yang terlatih dan dikoordinir oleh V.P. Teaching: Benjamin B. Juwono bersama dengan Teaching Team: Johanis S. Najoan dan Eliezer H. Hardjo Transformed Working Life (TWL) akan ditayangkan dalam salah satu channel di Indonesia agar dapat dimanfaatkan oleh para pebisnis & profesional Kristiani di Indonesia bagaimana menerapkan prinsip-prinsip Kerajaan Tuhan dalam kehidupan berbisnis dan bekerja mereka. TWL bagi members secara rutin diadakan pada hari Sabtu ke 2 setiap bulan dan terbuka dan dianjurkan bagi semua member untuk mengikutinya sebagai pembekalan wajib.
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Proverbs 23:12: "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge." We must listen and respond with the heart. Whatever service we give to God should be a result of our relationship with our heavenly Father, not an end unto itself.
Terimakasih anda telah meluangkan waktu membaca Berita ICCC Indonesia ini dan silahkan mem-forwardnya ke rekan bisnis anda agar memperoleh berkat rohani yang sama.
Redaksi
by Os Hillman "I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword." Zechariah 9:13b In the third and fourth centuries followers of Socratic teaching and other Greek scholars began to influence the Church in ways that were different from the Hebraic roots of the early Church. The Greek influence appeals more to the intellect, whereas the earlyChurch Hebraic model appealed to the heart. The Greek influence resulted in more emphasis on oratory skills and cognitive knowledge of God. Over the many centuries, this influence has shown itself in a more programmatic approach to the gospel rather than a process of living out our faith. So why is it important for us to understand this? I realized in my own life that I was a product of this Greek system. My walk with Christ focused more on what I knew rather than on an intimate and powerful walk with God. Knowledge without power to express the life within is of little value. The more programmatic the focus, the less emphasis we place on building deep and caring relationships that result in changed lives. Our early Church fathers knew there was a cost to living out the Word of God, not simply giving mental assent to it. Are you walking with God today in an intimate fellowship? Or, are you only involved in programs and activities designed to do good things? Reflect on
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