Provoked Thoughts

Gegar Budaya Kewirausahaan - Pendatang di Indonesia

2011-10-30T03:42:00.001-07:00

Post ini aslinya ditulis kemarin dalam bahasa Inggris – Singaporean Mind Meld. Mungkin karena diskusi yang terjadi dalam bahasa Inggris, gue juga lebih gampang menuliskannya dalam bahasa Inggris, jadi lebih natural dan gue nggak perlu menerjemahkannya dalam kepala gue.
Setelah link-nya di-tweet, ada beberapa request supaya post itu dibuat bahasa Indonesianya juga supaya lebih mudah dimengerti. Semoga dengan begini akan lebih berguna untuk lebih banyak orang yang bisa merasa kesentil dan bergerak.
Jadi ceritanya, beberapa waktu lalu gue dapat kesempatan untuk ketemu dan ngobrol panjang dengan orang Singapur yang lagi ambil PhD di Bandung. Aneh banget, memang. Dan itu pertanyaan pertama gue waktu ketemu dia, “Ngapain loe ambil PhD nya di sini, nggak kebalik?” Tapi akhirnya bisa ngobrol seru karena kayaknya dia juga ngerasa ada kemiripan. Dia orang sana yang belajar dan tinggal di sini, sementara gue sempat belajar di sana 2 tahun untuk setingkat SMP-SMA (sebenernya ‘O’ Levels - level sekolah sana agak aneh ngikutin system Inggris, jadi susah jelasinnya)
Anyway, kebiasaan gue setiap datang ke tempat baru selalu ingin tahu jalan pikiran masyarakat setempat, apa concern mereka, pendapat mereka tentang dunia luar selain daerah mereka, dll. Sumber termudah untuk ini adalah dari berita lokal di TV atau koran lokal. Apakah itu daerah di dalam atau luar negeri, gue selalu melakukan hal yang sama. Apalagi kalau ada kesempatan ngobrol dengan orang lokal. Jadi lebih seru lagi.
Untuk Singapur, tinggal dan sekolah di sana 2 tahun membuat gue ngerasa seperti orang lokal. Apalagi gue sekolah di sekolah ‘normal’ dan bukan sekolah internasional yang isinya anak-anak ekspat bule. Jadi gue -ngerasa- ngerti banget cara berpikir mereka.
Terkadang gue kesel sama beberapa ekspat yang gue temui di Jakarta. Banyak – gak semua tentu – yang kesannya mengisolasi diri dari budaya lokal. Terlalu sibuk bergaul sesama ekspat dan nggak peduli sama apa yang terjadi di sekitarnya. Kerasa banget kemarin waktu gue nonton bareng rugby di Murphy’s Bar Kemang. Obrolan yang terjadi di antara gue dan mereka adalah tentang negara asalnya, bukan tentang Jakarta atau Indonesia. Kerasa banget banyak dari mereka yang nggak updated apa yang terjadi. Yang mereka tahu cuma terbatas apa yang ada di Jakarta Post. Itupun kalau baca. Yes kesannya gue generalisasi banget, tapi memang sering ketemu orang kayak gini dan bikin gue kesel.
Karena itu setiap ketemu orang asing yang tahu banyak tentang Indonesia, gue selalu impressed. To be fair, banyak juga kok yang gue ketemu yang kayak gini. Tapi masih kurang rasanya.
Nah, bayangkan serunya obrolan gue waktu ketemu sama si orang Singapur yang belajar di Bandung ini. Sebutlah namanya Charlie (bukan ST12). Gue cukup kaget bahwa dia tau banyak banget tentang Indonesia dari setahun pertamanya tinggal di Bandung. Dan karena dia tahu gue pernah di negaranya, dia juga lebih open ngobrolnya. Gue juga jadi bisa lebih mengerti kenapa dia berpendapat seperti itu, karena tahu backgroundnya. Dan walaupun cukup silet, nggak tersinggung, toh kerasa juga bahwa dia bener-bener care dan bersemangat dengan apa yang dia bilang.
Dan memang lucu ngelihat keadaan dan ‘hype’ tentang entrepreneurship & startup di sini dari sudut pandang orang Singapur.. Beberapa hal yang kita bahas:

Kekecewaan Charlie bahwa ternyata ITB bukan seperti yang dibayangkan. Bayangan dia ITB itu seperti MIT katanya, dan dia kecewa karena ternyata lumayan jauh berbeda. Maaf ya para mahasiswa & alumni ITB… Asumsi dia waktu pertama datang, mindset mahasiswa ITB ingin menciptakan breakthrough teknologi baru dan mengubah dunia J Gue lumayan kaget dengan statementnya ini, karena setahu gue jumlah uang yang dialokasikan untuk riset ke Universitas lumayan besar. Memang benar sih, jumlah pendaftaran paten di Indonesia termasuk sangat rendah disbanding bahkan Negara-negara besar Asia lainnya. (Gak nemu referensinya, tapi pernah baca artikel tentang ini). Dan setelah ngobrol lebih banyak, makin gue sadar maksudnya. Bayangin aja, dalam 50 tahun terakhir, berapa banyak ‘penemuan’ yang kita tahu dari Universitas lokal dan akhirnya diproduksi dan dipakai secara komersil? Yang bener-bener jadi bisnis beneran dan sustainable?

Yang seangkatan gue mungkin inget banget waktu pembangunan jalan tol dalam kota Jakarta tahun 80an, betapa metoda ‘Arjuna Sosrobahu’ didengung-dengungkan sebagai penemuan hebat oleh teknokrat Indonesia dipakai untuk membangun tiang jalan tol? Kenyataannya gue inget banget hanya beberapa tiang yang benar-benar dibangun pakai metoda Arjuna, dan akhirnya sisa tiang yang lain tetap dibangun seperti biasa. Wonder why?

Partner gue beberapa waktu lalu datang ke Puspitek Serpong untuk sebuah acara. Dan di situ semakin terlihat betapa banyaknya penemuan baru hasil riset. Tetapi pertanyaan gue tetap sama, berapa banyak yang akhirnya benar-benar diproduksi dan dipakai secara komersil? Kita nggak perlu sesuatu yang spektakular seperti Google (yang belum tahu, Google awalnya adalah proyek riset PhD Larry Page & Sergei Brin). Betapa sayangnya kalau ada mesin pencabut duri ikan bandeng, tetapi belum dipakai masal? Padahal harga ikan setelah dicabut duri bisa 2 kali lipat harga ikan mentah? Beberapa dari penemuan yang pernah dikurasi Puspitek ada di link ini

Kesimpulan gue, penemuan yang ada akhirnya berhenti sebatas penemuan dan ada ‘missing link’ bahwa hanya sedikit dari mereka yang benar-benar bisa dipakai. Memang nggak cuma di Indonesia ada problem seperti ini. Komersialisasi hasil riset memang nggak gampang. Tapi at least persentase hasil riset yang benar-benar dipakai harus bisa diangkat..

Dan menyambung ke bahasan gue dengan Charlie selanjutnya: mindset kita harus lebih ‘entrepreneurial’. Kita selalu berpikir mental entrepreneur adalah ranah pebisnis, tetapi gue lebih senang dengan definisi pak Ciputra bahwa entrepreneurs adaah mereka yang “memiliki skill dan kemauan untuk mengubah sampah mejadi emas”. Mindset ini harusnya ada di setiap orang, bukan hanya pebisnis, tapi juga mereka yang ada di pemerintahan, akademik dan bahkan pekerja sosial. Semua orang seharusnya selalu berpikir bagaimana membuat sesuatu hal menjadi lebih baik lagi. Lebih banyak lagi tentang pemikiran pak Ci tentang entrepreneurship ada di sini

Seperti yang pernah dikatakan Jean-Baptiste Say: “entrepreneur mampu memindahkan sumber daya ekonomi untuk meningkatkan produktivitas dan hasil”. Well, we gotta believe this guy! Say adalah ekonom Perancis yang pertama kali mendefinisikan dan memakai kata ‘entrepreneurship’. Sejarah lebih banyak lagi bisa dibaca di entry Wikipedia ini

Kembali ke pendapat Charlie tadi, benar bahwa kebanyakan mahasiswa hanya mengejar gelar sarjana supaya dapat pekerjaan yang ‘lumayan’. Gue nggak akan sok tahu, 15 tahun lalu waktu kuliah, gue juga berpikiran persis sama. Tujuan utama waktu itu adalah dapat gelar sarjana, kerja di perusahaan yang bagus – kalau bisa multinasional supaya ada kesempatan perjalanan ke luar negeri – dan, target gaji 4 kali UMR waktu itu. Simple dan meaningless kan?

Gue bilang ke Charlie kalau sekarang ini keadaannya udah jauh berbeda dengan generasi kita 15-20 tahun lalu. Entah berapa sering sekarang gue ketemu orang-orang gila dengan spirit entrepreneurship luar biasa, walaupun status mereka masih mahasiswa! Beberapa dari mereka bahkan sudah punya bisnis yang berjalan dan menghasilkan keuntungan sebelum mereka lulus kuliah. Impressive!

Tetapi gue juga setuju bahwa pendapat dia masih valid. Kita butuh lebih banyak lagi orang berpendidikan (formal atau non-formal) yang benar-benar berusaha mencari solusi untuk masalah social kita. Dan bekerja super keras supaya solusi itu benar-benar terjadi

Bagian dari memiliki mindset entrepreneurial adalah tetap punya pikiran terbuka dan nggak berhenti belajar. Nggak pernah ada batas. Gue juga ngerasa kadang-kadang terlalu malas untuk tahu tentang sesuatu kalau ada orang lain yang sudah bisa mengurus hal itu. Sering banget gue ketemu orang (yang mengaku) pengusaha, tetapi nggak tahu keadaan keuangan bisnisnya sendiri. Kalau ditanya, mereka akan jawab, “Wah saya kurang tahu, kita Tanya ke orang keuangan saya ya.” Kalau ada yang ngomong kayak gini, biasanya gue langsung hilang interest, loe ngaku pengusaha tetapi nggak tahu berapa keuntungan bisnisnya? Kalau usaha itu mau bangkrut, nggak akan tahu sampai tiba-tiba beneran bangkrut? Mengerikan

Kata-kata Charlie yang bikin gue ngakak waktu itu, “I don’t understand why Matahari employs so many SPG when they do nothing. They don’t sell… All they do is sit and admire themselves in the mirror, and only move when a customer asks their help to look for their clothing size.” Hahahaha….

Dan ini terjadi di banyak bisnis. Banyak sekali pekerja/karyawan yang sangat underutilized, padahal seharusnya skill mereka bisa diupgrade sehingga bisa menghandle lebih banyak lagi pekerjaan. Dan sebenarnya nggak menutup kemungkinan bahwa gaji mereka bisa dinaikkan bahkan sampai dua kali lipat kalau memang mengerjakan dua pekerjaan! Tetapi tentu karena begitu banyak tenaga kerja yang masih menganggur, bisa mempekerjakan lebih banyak orang kesannya lebih baik. Gue sebenarnya punya ppendapat yang sangat berlawanan dengan itu. Tapi ya nanti jadi blogpost lain aja ya…

Hal berikut yang dicomplain Charlie adalah mental meniru. Dia complain, “berapa banyak kios fotokopi di Taman Sari (dekat ITB)?” Ya ini bener banget bahwa banyak orang sekedar meniru ide yang sudah jalan tanpa melakukan improvement apa-apa. Bahkan istilah ‘ATM’ di pengusaha sudah begitu terkenal: Amati, Tiru, Modifikasi. Masalahnya, kebanyakan hanya berhenti di ‘Tiru’, dan sebenarnya nggak ada yang diuntungkan dengan ini. Apalagi dengan etika bisnis yang rendah, orang tanpa malu mengcopy produk atau jasa yang persis sama dengan yang lain. Gue becandain dia, “Kita juga belajar tiru-meniru dari orang Singapur kok!” Hehehe… Mungkin dulu benar, tetapi setahu gue di sana etika bisnis udah membaik disbanding dulu. Tentu nggak ada yang bisa ngalahin RRC soal tiru-meniru ya…

Setelah diskusi panjang, gue dan Charlie setuju untuk kerjasama untuk membantu entrepreneur Indonesia. Dengan segala kritiknya, dia tulus ingin ikut memperbaiki problem di sini. Tentunya juga karena secara bisnis, Indonesia tetap menjadi negara yang potensial dari sisi bisnis.

Kata-kata terakhirnya teringat banget di gue, “You’ve got a lot of problems here, and where there’s a problem, there’s a solution somewhere. And remember every solution is an opportunity”. Kalau orang luar aja berpikiran seperti ini, masak kita masih pesimis dengan masa depan negeri ini?

Sampai sesi ngobrol berikut dengan Charlie…

Singaporean Mind Meld

2011-10-26T22:49:00.001-07:00

You Trekkies should be familiar with the Vulcan mind meld. If you are not, shame on you! Disclaimer: I am not a Trekkie and I still know what it is, driven by the secret desire to perform this on some people sometimes, namely SBY, most DPR members, Jero Wacik, Habib Rizieq, etc.

For those non-Trekkies, the wikipedia definition is here.

Basically the Vulcans can do this technique to know what are others thinking. So if I do this to Jero Wacik I can find out what was in his mind when picking Eddy Silitonga as our tourism ambassador

By some strange coincidence I met a Singaporean sometime ago who has been living in Bandung for his PhD studies. Sounded really odd to me as he is the first foreigner I personally met who actually studies here. As a background, I studied in Singapore for 2 years for high school - technically it's 'O' Levels but will be so difficult to explain. Anyway, I am always interested to understand how a society thinks, what's important to the people, how they see the world outside, etc. During short visits this is usually achieved by watching local news on TV or readint the local newspaper. Trust me it's so damn fun to do. Whether local travels or overseas travels you can gather so much insight on the society. In the case of Singapore, living there for 2 years made me felt like I was Singaporean! Especially because I was in a local school and not one of those international schools filled with expat kids.

The disappointing fact about the expatriate community in Jakarta is that they - not all, but most anyway - seem to isolate themselves from the locals. Too busy mingling with other expats and doesn't give a damn about what's happening around them. I knew a foreigner who is not aware of the Lapindo mudflow when it made local headlines almost everyday. Of course he was too busy reading Wall Street Journal and watching CNBC the whole time. I know I shouldn't generalise but keep meeting these ignorant people and got sick of it.

Then I met this Singaporean who studied in Bandung. Let's call him Charlie. To my surprise, he knows a lot of stuff about Indonesia from his first year here. And it seemed that because he knew I spent sometime in Singapore, he could express himself more freely, and yes, I can definitely understand where he is coming from, so I wasn't insulted when he criticised us. Probably because I could sense that he truly cared and was really passionate about what he was talking about.

So you got an Indonesian who studied in Singapore and a Singaporean who is studying in Bandung, both with the same passion to improve and support local entrepreneurship. Perfect ingredients for a mind meld!

And it's so funny seeing Indonesian entrepreneurial/startup scene from a Singaporean point of view... Some of the things we discussed were:

His disappointment that ITB was not like MIT. So sorry ITB graduates and students, but he was coming with an assumption that ITB students are the technical minds of the future who would invent the next tech breakthrough and changing the world. I was quite surprised because I know there are a lot of research money are spent in our Universities. But after some more discussion I can see his point. From the past 50 years, how any 'inventions' do you know were research subjects from our local Universities that made it to market as a real, working product. A real business that is sustainable and free from grant as their income?

My partner recently went to Puspitek Serpong to see what it is all about. It turned out that there are A LOT of local inventions as a result of the techies' research, some are highlighted here
But the question remains, how many of them are actually into commercial production? We don't need something as spectacular as Google, but at least someone (or the inventor himself) should be able to think about how our fishermen can commercially use their 'fish de-boning machine' and sell it at twice the price of raw fish!

Charlie's exact quote was, "The ITB (undergraduate) students I met just wanna get their degrees done and join Pertamina as Management Trainee." In twitter slang, #jleb

That point brought our discussion to the next point: this country needs to be more entrepreneurial. We always think of entrepreneurs as businesspeople, while I tend to agree more to pak Ciputra that entrepreneurs are those "with the skill and will power to turn junk into gold". This mindset should apply to everyone, not just businesspeople, but also people in government, academics and even social workers. More of pak Ci's thoughts on entrepreneurship is here

And as Jean-Baptiste Say puts it: "The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of lower and into higher productivity and greater yield." Hey, you gotta believe the guy, Say is the French economist who first defined the word 'entrepreneurship'. More history can be read from the wikipedia entry

Coming back to Charlie's point, it is so true that most undergraduate students do their studies just to get a degree that will qualify them for an acceptable job. Not gonna deny that I was thinking the same way 15 years ago when I was studying. The main goal back then was get my degree, work in a good company - preferably multinational so there's more chance of overseas travel - and, a target salary that was 4 times the minimum wage at the time. What a dumb guy I was

I told Charlie that what he's seeing now is already much better than my days 15-20 years ago. Nowadays I keep meeting crazy people with entrepreneurial spirit even though they are still in University! Some of which actually have their own business running profitably before they graduate. Impressive!

But his point is so valid, we need more educated people who are actually looking for solutions to our everyday problems. And then work damn hard to make the solutions come true

Part of having an entrepreneurial mindset is to keep an open mind and keep learning. There is no limit. I admit we are often too lazy to know about things when we have other people who already take care of it. How many people calling themselves 'entrepreneurs' who are not even aware of his company's financials? In my line of work, I keep meeting people who answer, "I don't know, let's ask my accounting person." How dare you call yourself an entrepreneur and not knowing how much your business makes? If your company is on the verge of bankruptcy, you'll only find out when it happens? Scary stuff

The funniest remark from Charlie was, "I don't understand why Matahari employs so many SPG when they do nothing. They don't sell.. What they do is sit and admire themselves in the mirror, and only move when a customer asks their help to look for their clothing size." LOL

And that is so true for a lot of businesses. A lot of workers are so underutilised, where we can actually upgrade their skills and maybe pay them twice their current salary. But of course with the abundance of people, hiring more seems to be the best option. I can assure you this is a superficial thought and is totally against this. But that's another blogpost..

The next thing Charlie complained about is the copycat mentality. His point was, "how many kios fotokopi are in Taman Sari (near ITB)?" Yes this is so true that some people just copy whatever idea seems to worked well before without improving it, and it ends up hurting everyone. And he complains about the business ethics of how people shamelessly have the exact same product/service as others. In my defence, I joked, "well we learned it from the Singaporeans!" Which is true, although from my knowledge, business ethics is improving a lot there compared to what it was before. Of course the king of copycat is still mainland China, but we rest our case there.

In our parting ways, we agreed to cooperate and do business together to help Indonesian entrepreneurs. With all his criticism, he truly wants to help us improve the way we do things. And of course, business-wise it remains a good country to invest in. His parting words were, "You've got a lot of problems here, and where there's problem, there is a solution somewhere. And remember every solution is an opportunity". Can't have said it better, dude..

Then we finish the mind meld session, until our next meeting, of course

Bersih-Bersih Blog Berdebu

2011-10-26T21:14:00.001-07:00

Kebetulan hari ini adalah Hari Blogger Nasional. Tapi bukan itu alasan gue nulis posting setelah sekian lama. Sebenernya udah niat untuk nulis lebih banyak sekarang, apalagi udah lebih banyak waktu luang. Sayangnya memang gue terlalu mudah ter-distract persis anak kecil. Dan distraction paling besar akhir2 ini adalah rilisnya game Football Manager 2012. Tiap kali buka laptop pengennya main 1 match aja... Dan akhirnya habis 1-2 jam waktu luang itu untuk main :-)

Semoga Hari Blogger ini menjadi momentum kebangkitan blog saya demi kemajuan negara dan persatuan bangsa. Ok kan untuk jadi spanduk Hari Blogger ala spanduk pemerintah?

Udah ada beberapa topik yang belum tentu nyambung satu dengan yang lain yang udah gue bikin mindmapnya, memang tinggal ditulis aja kok.. At least gue akan mulai 1 post setelah ini

Random topics yang udah tercatat adalah:

udah ngapain aja 6 bulan setelah berhenti kerja
impian ngebantu petani Indonesia
assumption is the mother of all failures
community = business
Singaporean view of Indonesia
social entrepreneurship

Yuk mulai nulis lagi yuk...

Surat Dukungan Masyarakat Untuk KPK Yang Tidak Disiarkan TV Merah & Biru

2011-08-20T11:05:00.001-07:00

Biar gampang liatnya, ini lho surat dukungan tokoh masyarakat anti-korupsi yang dibacakan saat press-con di KPK kemarin (19 Agustus)

Tentunya oleh TV Merah dan Biru beritanya cuma diliput sekilas, teks ini tidak diperlihatkan dan pembacaannya oleh pak Endriartono tidak disiarkan. Well, at least di segmen berita yg gue lihat, cuma diberitakan sekilas numpang lewat. Sementara pembacaan surat Udin ke SBY disiarkan live & diulang2 tiap jam, ditambah dramatisasi tampang Udin sok memelas dan background musik sedih. You get my point..

Teks surat dukungan untuk KPK:

Kepada Presiden Republik Indonesia, Kami memberikan dukungan keberanian untuk melakukan langkah-langkah aktif dan nyata, menggunakan kewenangan tertinggi sebagai Kepala Negara dan Kepala Pemerintahan, serta sebagai pemegang mandat rakyat Indonesia, untuk melindungi negara dan warga bangsa: Dari serangan balik para koruptor,
Dari kebijakan-kebijakan yang tidak berpihak pada kebutuhan dasar rakyat banyak,
Dari pemiskinan terstruktur karena penguasaan sumberdaya ekonomi oleh segelintir kelompok,
Dari ketidakpastian hukum dan penegakan hukum yang tidak adil,
Dari kebijakan-kebijakan pemerintah yang diambil atas dasar kepentingan politik jangka pendek. Jakarta, enam puluh enam tahun setelah Indonesia merdeka.
Tertanda, rakyat Indonesia,

Anies Baswedan; Widie Sembada ,Anita Wahid; Bambang Widodo Umar; Betti S. Alisjahbana ; Burhan Muhtadi; Danang Widoyoko; Eep Saefulloh Fattah; Eddy Swandi Hamid; Endriartono Sutarto; Erry R. Hardjapamekas; Faisal Basri; Hamid Chalid; Ikrar Nusa Bakthi; Imam Prasodjo; Komaruddin Hidayat; M. Ichsan Loulembah; Mas Achmad Santosa; Monica Tanuhandaru; Natalia Soebagjo; Ratih Sanggarwati; Rhenald Kasali; Saldi Isra; Teten Masduki; Atika Makarim; Todung Mulya Lubis; Yenni Wahid; Yunarto Wijaya; Zainal Arifin Muchtar; Zumrotin K. Susilo.

Who Wants To Be An Entrepreneur?

2011-03-23T03:20:00.001-07:00

"Indonesia only has 0.18% entrepreneur population, compared to Singapore's 7.2%.."

"We need to create more entrepreneurs..."

"University graduates need to aim to setup their own business instead of becoming employees..."

"Indonesian SMEs stay strong despite the 2008 global crisis..."

You've probably seen the above quotes many times if you're like me. Well if you haven't, now you have.

A lot of people are saying the same things, this country needs more entrepreneurs.

For many, this seems to be the way out of so many issues facing our beloved country.

Unemployment, sustainable economic growth, reliance on foreign investment, etc etc etc

I agree wholeheartedly. This wave is good and is becoming stronger and stronger. Let's ride this wave!

But it seems that many put 'becoming entrepreneur' as the goal. This is where my objection is.

Becoming an entrepreneur is just a start.

Yes it is a huge milestone for most people. Especially those like me who has been 'trapped' in their comfort zone as employees for years.

It may be a cause for celebration, but no champagne-popping, confetti-throwing, fireworks-exploding celebration yet, please

The road ahead is rough and tough (so I heard)

It's like having a baby (not that babies make money, although some darned parents do make money out of their babies...)

Be ready to hit brickwalls. You will need to tear down those walls if you wanna continue

You will fall. But you will have to pick yourself up and run again

This post is not really for other people to read

This is for myself

To remind me when the road is rough

To plug my ears when the baby cries so hard

To give me strength when I need to break some walls

To heal my wounds after every fall

It ain't always gonna be easy, but I'll make sure I enjoy the journey

Good luck to me, and to all other entrepreneur-wannabes out there!

Let's live a life of passion!

(*wink to @ReneCC*)

Shut Up Mario Teguh, Make Way For Marshall Mathers..!!

2010-12-09T11:17:00.001-08:00

Move over Mario Teguh! Go away Tony Robbins!

Here comes one of the best motivational poetry by one of the gratest motivational speakers of all time, my personal favourite, Marshall Mathers.

Yes he's the real Slim Shady and unlike you two, he lets his experience do the talking.

Although he ain't that bad at speaking, at least better than your flowery crap..

His crap actually stinks like real crap and the effect is a real kick in the nut, waking me up from my dream...

Taken from Airplanes (Part II) of B.O.B featuring some chick called Hayley and the honourable Mr. Mathers:

Alright lets pretend Marshall Mathers never picked up a pen

Lets pretend things would have been no different

Pretend, he procrastinated had no motivation

Pretend, he just made excuses that were so paper thin

They could blow away with the wind

Marshall, you’re never gonna make it, makes no sense to play the game

There ain’t no way that you’ll win

Pretend, he just stayed outside all day and played with his friends

Pretend, he even had a friend to say was his friend

And it wasn’t time to move and schools were changing again

He wasn’t socially awkward and just strange as a kid

He had a father and his mother wasn’t crazy as shit

And he never dreamed he could rip stadiums and just lazy as shit

Fuck a talent show in a gymnasium bitch

You won’t amount to shit

Quit daydreaming, kid

You need to get your cranium checked

You thinking like an alien it just ain’t realistic

Now pretend, they ain’t just make him angry with this shit

And there was no one he could even aim when he’s pissed it

And his alarm went off to wake him off but he didn’t make it to the rap Olympics

Slept through his plane and he missed it

He’s gon’ have a hard time explaining to Hailey and Laney these food stamps and this WIC shit

Cuz he never risked shit

He hopes and he wished it

But it didn’t fall in his lap

So he ain’t even here

He pretends that…

I trust my readers are adult enough to read thru the profanities and digest the message

If not, well, google him and read thru his short biography

As for me, it's time to pick up my pen...

What is an Angel Investor: Do You Wear a Halo?

2010-09-30T21:11:00.001-07:00

Where Venture Angels Ignite™

via venturehype.com < click this link for full article

Nice article from venturehype.com on Angel Investors

Give Me Another Chance, I Wanna Grow Up Once Again

2010-03-26T19:48:00.001-07:00

My one big assumption is that most of you who read this through twitter would have seen '3 Idiots', the Bollywood sensation that played in Blitz Megaplex longer than Avatar. If you haven't, too bad, you missed a great movie, but do read on

Remember that scene where Joy Lobo sang a song with his guitar? Not a typical Bollywood song, I guess

Give me some sunshine
Give me some rain
Give me another chance
I wanna grow up once again

Joy ended up committing suicide, bringing up the issue of India having the highest suicide rate among Uni students

No, I'm not that depressed nor on the brink of suicide. Just been feeling that something is missing from myself. The song kinda reminded me what's missing

I wanna grow up once again

Not that I wanna act childish or being irresponsible
I miss being spontaneous
Doing things as the ideas come to my head
No second thoughts
No plans
Go where the wind blows
Ask a child what s/he plans to do this afternoon and s/he'll stare blankly at you
They just do what they feel like
You get the idea..

Seems that things in life have been too 'planned' recently, specifically time and destinations. Project plans and schedules and itineraries

I didn't realise this until my recent business trip.
Imagine covering 4 cities in East Kalimantan and 5 cities in East Java, all in one week. Great fun, saw parts of our great country where few have been before
The eureka moment was travelling from Balikpapan to Surabaya
No more Garuda flight between the two. Since when? I dunno. So a budget airline it was
Actual destination for that afternoon was Jombang. Gotta get there by 6pm, and this time no airport pickup at Juanda. Why? Long story. But the little 'adventure' of finding transportation was enough to spark me

I think I'll do an unplanned travel with my best friend, my wife :-) See if she enjoys the surprises and adventures..

No fixed itinerary
No pre-booked tickets
No hotel reservation
No lunch/dinner reservation
No destination
A road trip to nowhere
I wanna grow up once again

And after that, back to the reality of project plans and schedules of course
Be a responsible grownup

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Without the rest, Jakarta is nothing but an empty shell

2010-03-19T04:49:00.001-07:00

As I am preparing for another trip around the country, the same question got me thinking again...

If I were to live and work in another city, outside Jakarta, where can I be?

For now, specifically in my current stage of career and life, nowhere. Note please, this is SPECIFIC for my case. Why? That'll be another blogpost

Now I have never been to the US (and do not really intend to in the near future), but you can sorta get the sense that wealth and economic growth is spread (quite) evenly there. My friends that live and work in the US, Indonesian or otherwise, are spread throughout the country.

Got a cousin working in DC. Another cousin in NY. A friend in Detroit. Another friend in Dallas. Yet another friend in Chicago. Another in Boston.

Note these are people working, not studying there.

So how could big businesses spring up everywhere over there?

Even for something like the financial sector -where there is no real commodity exchange happening- they have so many financial hubs?

Sure NY's Wall Street rules the rest of the country, but AFAIK there are other stock exchanges in Chicago and Miami. Washington, DC is naturally where the World Bank and IMF is headquartered. I know a friend who used to work at an investment management company based in San Fransisco. In fact investment managers are virtually everywhere, based on so many cities.

Now going back to Indonesia, how many big businesses -national or international coverage- you know are headquartered outside Jakarta? I can only think of a few.

Banking and financial sectors are 99.999% Jakarta-based.

Consumer goods? Most large companies HQ are in Jakarta

Oil and gas and mining? While 100% sites are outside Jakarta, most HQ are here

Property? Jakarta

Advertising? Definitely Jakarta

Still don't get the idea? Out of the Top 1000 companies in the country, I guess >99% of the CEOs are based in Jakarta.

The actual businesses may be all over the country, but Jakarta has the control, so to speak.

I've visited places where they are so rich, and there are so many rich people around, it's a normal thing to see Hummers running around.

The past few years, coal and palm oil are in high demand and produced so many local OKBs. And some people prospered because of it.

But still, despite all that, Jakarta is still the center of our economy's universe.

I find it scary. How can this city hold more growth while already bursting in the seams?

A reader of a national newspaper suggested to separate the government center or move the capital completely. Have a city like Canberra or Washington, DC. Maybe that helps, although they sound so damn boring. I can't imagine a city in Indonesia full of politicians and government officials only. And of course the journalists that come along. Eeuuww.. :-)

I really hope someday, maybe when my kids enter working age, Surabaya, Medan, Balikpapan, Makassar, Palembang and many other cities become at least half as big as Jakarta. Economically and population-wise.

Because as my twitter friend @pratama said, "Without the rest of Indonesia, Jakarta is really nothing but an empty shell.."

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I am an Online Hulk: I Only Blog When I'm Mad

2010-02-09T18:00:00.001-08:00

Baru nyadar, ternyata satu hal yg bisa membuat gue nulis blogpost adalah kalo gue marah & emosional ttg sesuatu

And this morning, I woke up MAD! Some silly things provoked me yesterday night before bed, and the short sleep couldn't shake that off:
- di twitter, ada yang mention kelihatannya ada pihak yang 'kecewa' karena rakyat Indonesia kurang mendukung voting Pulau Komodo sbg 7 New Wonders Of The World
- our dearest President -whom I voted for!- launched his 3rd music album in the middle of all this Century fiasco
- liputan Apa Kabar Indonesia Malam TVOne tentang kasus penyalahgunaan Facebook yang sudah mengundang mas Nukman Luthfie, tapi eksekusinya parah (menurut gue lho)

Dan yang paling gongnya sebelum tidur:
- baca blogpost dari unspun tentang Duta Pariwisata baru Indonesia: Eddy Silitonga, yang akan tur promo pariwisata ke 49 negara. Silahkan klik http://wp.me/pTvS-KW dan tertawa/nangis/muntah bacanya

I promise you a full, emotional blog post as my response to all the stupidity listed above! By tomorrow, perhaps :-)

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My Bilingual Self

2009-08-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm not gonna care much anymore about whether I write my blog in English or Bahasa Indonesia. Beginilah cara gue berpikir dan bahasa yang ada di kepala gue memang campur-campur. Jadi gue akan nulis apa adanya yang ada di kepala gue. And that means switching languages every now and then. If you don't like it, too bad :-)

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Pilih Sendiri Perjuanganmu Untuk IndonesiaUnite

2009-08-06T11:54:00.001-07:00

Ini adalah tulisan yang gue post minggu lalu dalam bahasa Inggris. Semoga dengan diterjemahkan, lebih banyak lagi yang terpanggil untuk berbuat sesuatu untuk negara.

Banyak sekali yang tanya "gimana caranya gue join IndonesiaUnite?" "apa yang bisa gue bantu lakukan?" dll

Untuk pertanyaan pertama, jawaban gue adalah: nggak, loe nggak bisa join IndonesiaUnite. Bukan karena eksklusifitas, tapi karena ini bukan sebuah komunitas atau organisasi. IndonesiaUnite adalah sebuah gerakan, sebuah semangat untuk menunjukkan bahwa kehidupan di negeri ini bisa tetap berjalan normal walau ada 'gangguan' di sana sini. Semangat IndonesiaUnite adalah untuk mengubah negeri ini menjadi tempat yang lebih baik untuk semua orang, semangat yang (seharusnya) sudah ada di dalam hati kita semua (kalau loe bener2 ngaku orang Indonesia). Semangat ini 'dibangunkan' lagi oleh bom Mega Kuningan, tapi gua yakin, rasa nasionalis, patriotis, atau apalah namanya, sebenarnya selalu ada.

2 bom itu mungkin menjadi 'tipping point' dari semangat dan gerakan ini. Meminjam definisi Malcolm Gladwell tentant 'tipping point', adalah: "suatu level di mana momentum perubahan tidak dapat dihentikan"

Menurut gue definisi itu cocok untuk IndonesiaUnite. Momentum untuk perubahan. Dan moga-moga bener tidak dapat dihentikan. Unstoppable. Anak muda Indonesia selalu menginginkan perubahan. Sayangnya beberapa orang menunggu untuk ditunjukkan jalan perubahan ke arah mana. Oleh pemerintah, oleh pemimpin, oleh generasi yang lebih tua. Tetapi beberapa orang lain lebih senang untuk MENJADI PERUBAHAN itu sendiri, dan mulai melakukan sesuatu, walaupun nggak ada dukungan dari mana-mana.

IndonesiaUnite menyulut semangat itu lagi, dan banyak orang sadar bahwa mereka ingin berbuat sesuatu untuk menjadikan negara tercinta ini tempat yang lebih baik. Sayangnya lagi, beberapa dari kita sudah terlatih menjadi 'domba' - meminjam istilah dari 'Tribes', bukunya Seth Godin. Beberapa dari kita mengharapkan dipimpin oleh orang lain, karena memang begitulah kita dilatih dan dididik.

Yang membawa kita ke pertanyaan kedua, "apa yang bisa gue lakukan untuk membantu IndonesiaUnite di dunia nyata?". Bagus, gue salut kalau loe bertanya begini, karena berarti loe nggak puas hanya dengan mendapatkan perhatian dunia di twitter.

Sadar nggak sih, pertanyaan yang sama udah begitu sering ditanya (walaupun agak retoris)? "Jangan tanya apa yang bisa dilakukan negara untuk dirimu, tanya apa yang kau bisa lakukan untuk negara". Gue yakin banyak orang yang mencoba menemukan jawabannya. Gimana caranya negeri ini, sekitar loe, menjadi lebih baik dengan adanya loe? Ada nggak efek positif diri loe di sini?

Nggak akan ada yang ngasih tau loe harus melakukan apa, loe harus mengambil keputusan sendiri. Gimana kontribusi loe tergantung sama diri loe sendiri. Untuk membantu, gue akan coba mendaftar beberapa aktivitas yang bisa membawa semangat IndonesiaUnite menjadi nyata. Beberapa aktivitas ini udah mulai jauh sebelum bom terjadi. Tapi kalau perlu kejadian bom untuk menjadi 'tipping point' untuk mencuri perhatian orang, lebih baik dari tidak sama sekali.

Daftar gue sampai sekarang seperti ini:

Blood For Life (http://bloodforlife.wordpress.com)
Coin-A-Chance (http://coinachance.com)
Good News From Indonesia (http://goodnewsfromindonesia.com)
Indonesia Bertindak - dengan slogan keren mereka Travel Warning: Dangerously Beautiful (http://indonesiabertindak.multiply.com)
Satoe Indonesia (http://satoeindonesia.org)
Better Indonesia (http://www.facebook.com/betterindonesia)
Magic Happens Clothing - dengan desain T-Shirt patriotik mereka (http://magichappensclothing.blogspot.com)
Kaos Merdeka (http://www.kaosmerdeka.com)
Bolbal - mem'bail out' pedagang kaki lima dan mengubah T-Shirt Manchester United menjadi #indonesiaunite (http://bolbal.wordpress.com)
Konferensi Remaja Indonesia (http://www.facebook.com/indonesianyouthconference)

Dan perjuangan favorit gue: turisme lokal - Visit Indonesia (http://www.indonesia.travel atau http://www.my-indonesia.info)

Kasih tau kalau loe tau ada organisasi/gerakan yang punya semangat yang sama. Gue harap daftar ini nggak berhenti cuma sampai di sini.

Selain turisme, gue sangat ingin mendukung bisnis kecil lokal. Itu 'passion' gue dan kebetulan sekarang jadi kerjaan sehari-hari. Untuk bisa mendukung keduanya, turisme dan bisnis kecil lokal, gue terus ngomporin orang lain untuk pergi ke tempat yang belum pernah didatangi sebelumnya, dan membelanjakan uang di toko atau restoran atau bisnis lokal lain. Kalau semua kalangan menegah-atas Indonesia melakukan ini minimal sekali setahun, bayangkan dampak ekonominya ke Pulau Komodo, Ambon, Wakatobi, Raja Ampat, Sikuai, Mentawai, Toba, Bromo, dll dll.

Banyak yang bisa loe lakukan, yang loe perlukan mulai dari sebuah 'passion', punya inisiatif dan kreativitas. Lihat lingkungan sekitar loe. Pasti ada yang bisa loe lakukan untuk memperbaikinya. Anak-anak @jogtug (Jogja Twitter User Group) lagi mendesain materi untuk 'propaganda' yang akan dibagikan ke turis, terutama turis asing, di tempat-tempat tujuan wisata sekitar Jogja. Tentunya dengan pesan dan semangat IndonesiaUnite. Bayangkan kalau turis-turis itu memasang stiker 'Indonesia Unite Against Terrorism' di koper mereka, dan dilihat sama orang lain di negaranya? Iklan 'below-the-line' gratis!! Biar mereka tahu pembom-pembom tolol itu bukan bagian dari kita!!

Jadi, pilih perjuangan loe untuk IndonesiaUnite dan mulai lakukan! Kalau masih bingung, setidaknya loe bisa dukung salah satu yang ada di daftar di atas.

TUNGGU APA LAGI? JANGAN JADI DOMBA! AYO BERGERAK!

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Saya Mau Jadi Pejuang

2009-08-06T04:12:00.001-07:00

Gue baru keluar dari sebuah rapat 'ekstra-kurikuler' yang bukan berhubungan dengan kerjaan kantor gue. Gue baru ketemu dengan sebuah grup media yang lumayan besar untuk menjelaskan apa itu #indonesiaunite

Kalau loe belum tau, cari di wikipedia deh. Harusnya udah naik tulisannya. Gue gak akan nerangin itu di sini.

Tiba-tiba tadi keluar dari rapat itu, dalam perjalanan di atas ojek, gue terpikir bahwa rasanya semangat IndonesiaUnite itu mirip banget sama waktu kejadian 98 sebelum lengsernya Pak Harto. Gara-garanya habis menghubungi Sakti, 'teman seperjuangan' dulu untuk sebuah acara.

Waktu itu gue gak terlibat langsung. Jauh malah. Gue masih 'merantau' menuntut ilmu, menjelang semester terakhir. (tapi gak berantem2 kayak di film Merantau, sayangnya..). Cuma bisa lihat di tivi bagaimana polisi & tentara membubarkan protes mahasiswa, darah-darah berceceran, dan yang paling keinget, ada polisi yang jalan lewat seorang anak yang sudah terkapar di atas aspal, terus sambil lalu kepala anak itu ditendang pakai botnya.

Perasaan kami para perantau waktu itu sama, sedih, kesal, marah tapi nggak tau mau gimana. Mengumpat sejadi-jadinya tapi nggak bisa ngapa2in. Singkat cerita kami coba menggalang solidaritas dan bikin aksi mahasiswa Indonesia sekota itu. Kebetulan lumayan banyak orang Indonesianya di sana. Rapat-rapat malam-malam, menyebar berita, dll. Jaman internet masih susah jadi masih manual semua. Email sih ada, tapi buka dari rumah masih pakai dial-up yang kecepatannya kalah jauh sama GPRS sekarang.

Setelah itu, kabar Soeharto lengser pun sampai. Semua senang, kayaknya berhasil mencapai sesuatu walaupun kita nggak ikut naik ke gedung DPR. Bangga lihat teman-teman seangkatan kita melakukan itu semua. Kami cuma jadi penonton waktu itu. Di hati kecil gue berpikir, masak sampai segini aja? Maklum gue memang dasarnya kompetitif dan nggak mau kalah. Aksi kita nggak ada apa-apanya dibanding anak-anak yg menyerbu DPR. Kami cuma jadi saksi sejarah waktu itu, bukan pelaku. Setelah ganti presiden pun, kami nggak tau mau ngapain lagi. Kalau ditanya, "what's next?". Jawabannya "Dunno"

Pindah ke 17 Juli 2009. Semangat nasionalisme dan patriotik tumbuh lewat IndonesiaUnite. Ternyata banyak anak-anak muda (atau merasa muda) yang punya keinginan melakukan sesuatu untuk negara. Dimulai dari hal sepele menjadikan #indonesiaunite nomor 1 di twitter.

Perasaan yang gue rasakan waktu itu sangat mirip dengan 98. Marah, kesal, miris. Setelah #indonesiaunite jadi nomor 1 beneran di twitter, senang, lega, seperti waktu Soeharto lengser.

Terus pertanyaan yang sama muncul lagi dari teman-teman, "what's next?". Nah muncul semangat bahwa kita BISA melakukan sesuatu sekarang. 11 tahun lalu gue cuma seorang mahasiswa culun yang gak bisa apa-apa. Gak punya apa-apa. Gak ada pengalaman, jejaring (network maksudnya..) apalagi uang. Mungkin sebenernya bisa berbuat sesuatu, tapi nggak tau harus mulai dari mana.

Sekarang, setelah 10 tahun kerja, pengetahuan dan pengalaman bertambah. Network lumayanlah, baik offline atau online. Apalagi ada senjata 'social media' yang sangat sangat 'powerful'. (Nggak nemu padanan powerful dalam bahasa Indonesia)

Gerakan IndonesiaUnite tidak akan dijadikan sebuah organisasi untuk sekarang (nantinya bisa aja berubah). Sekarang lebih diposisikan sebagai perantara untuk kegiatan apa saja yang positif, yang perlu bantuan tenaga atau materi dari masyarakat ataupun korporasi. Semangat IndonesiaUnite ingin mengingatkan seluruh rakyat Indonesia, bahwa siapa saja bisa berbuat sesuatu untuk negeri ini, ASAL memang punya niat.

Kebetulan pekerjaan gue sekarang punya tambahan misi bahwa kami HARUS punya dampak sosial yang positif, di samping keuntungan finansial, tentu. Jadi memang kita terus mencari cara untuk kontribusi ke masyarakat sekitar. Dan betul banget, kalau udah niat ada aja jalannya, nggak kebayang sebelumnya. Karena dipikirin tiap hari (dan jadi target) ada aja ide gila muncul.

Jadi pesan gue, kalau loe emang mau berbuat sesuatu untuk Indonesia, niatin yang bener! Cari apa yang mau loe lakukan.

Untuk membantu pencarian loe, website www.indonesiaunite.com akan dibuat untuk menjadi portal aktifitas. Kalau cari ide untuk IndonesiaUnite, silahkan ke website itu. Kalau punya ide atau aktifitas atau organisasi yang punya semangat IndonesiaUnite, silahkan diusulkan ke sana, juga informasi apa yang dibutuhkan

Yang penting, tetapkan di hati, "Saya mau jadi pejuang! Saya mau jadi bagian sejarah!"

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Bahasa Persatuan: Bahasa Indonesia

2009-08-06T01:54:00.001-07:00

Setelah mempertimbangkan beberapa kritik yang bilang, "Loe nulisnya kok bahasa Engres terus sih?". Gue akan memecah janji gue sendiri bahwa gue hanya akan nulis blogpost dalam bahasa Inggris

Alasan gue dulu adalah gue pengen tulisan gue bisa dimengerti juga sama orang luar. Dengan berjalannya waktu, terutama setelah muncul semangat dan gerakan #indonesiaunite, sepertinya beberapa posting gue memang lebih ditujukan ke 'target audience' orang Indonesia. Dan mungkin akan lebih efektif dengan bahasa kita.

Apapun bisa berubah. UUD '45 aja udah diamandemen berkali-kali. Yang gak boleh berubah hanya kitab suci agama. Dan blog gue jauh dari suci.

I'm welcoming this change!

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Show Your Actions For #IndonesiaUnite! NOW!

2009-07-31T04:44:00.001-07:00

The internet breaks down communication barriers. #indonesiaunite (the hashtag) only took several hours to be widespread in twitter. And within days, what started as a response to the bombs snowballed into a call for action. A call for the youth of Indonesia to act, to do whatever they can to improve the future of this country.

Along with the enormous support, also came the criticisms. On a daily basis we see blogposts or tweets where people doubt whether this is just a trend, because in the past our people has been very reactive to nationalism issues.

There are also comments like "this won't do any good" or those who think "the government should do this and that". I always have strong reactions to those.

I personally think criticisms on #indonesiaunite are good, because it serves as a reminder to all of us that this spirit shouldn't just stop here. Something concrete needs to be done if we want to show the world that Indonesia is a great country despite the terrors aimed at us. Something to make this country a better place for everyone. We need criticisms like this one from Silly: http://sillystupidlife.com/2009/07/22/time-to-act-not-to-talk-indonesianunite/. It was a big slap on my face when reading that post last week, a huge reminder to start some action.

Mere criticism won't do any good. This country needs real actions, and if you criticise without offering alternative solution, you are no better than those who stop at tweeting using the hashtag #indonesiaunite and changing your avatar into Merah Putih.

I would like to see more people 'reminding' others that they shouldn't stop just there, and giving suggestions on how people can move #indonesiaunite offline.

And I'm so sorry to say this, but if your solution is waiting for the government to do something, you are no different than a sheep in the middle of an empty field. One that is making a lot of noise but doesn't move.

We have enough sheep right now, we need shepherds, leaders who point out to others where to go. Any direction is welcome right now, because making a move is much much better than standing still

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Pick Your Cause for #IndonesiaUnite

2009-07-30T03:36:00.001-07:00

I was gonna write a post about the #indonesiaunite movement and spirit, but I guess most of you have heard about it and how it was the #1 topic on twitter several times last week.

Since then I hear a lot of questions in the lines of "how can I join #indonesiaunite?" "what can I do to help?" etc

For the 1st question, my answer is, no, you cannot join #indonesiaunite. Because it is not a community/organisation, #indonesiaunite is a movement, a spirit to ensure this country can survive any disruption. The #indonesiaunite spirit is to make this country a better place for everyone, something that has always been there within your hearts, if you are truly Indonesian. It was awakened by the Mega Kuningan bombs, but I am sure this sense of nationalism, patriotism, or whatever you wanna call it, has always been there.

The bombs may serve as the tipping point of this spirit and movement. And to borrow Malcolm Gladwell's definition of a tipping point, is "the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable."

I think that sums up #indonesiaunite pretty well. A momentum for change. And hopefully it is unstoppable. The youth of this country have been yearning for change. Some people expect to be shown the way to change. By the government, by the leaders, by the older generation. But some people decide to BE THE CHANGE, and do something, regardless of any support from the mainstream powers.

#indonesiaunite ignites that passion again, as people realise they want to do something to make this beloved country of ours a better place. The sad thing is, some of us has been trained to be 'sheep' - borrowing Seth Godin's 'Tribes'. Some of us expect to be led by others, because that's how we have been trained and educated.

Thus leads to the 2nd question, "what can I do to help #indonesiaunite offline?". Well, I salute you to ask this question, because you are not satisfied by just getting the world's attention in twitter. Great.

Do you realise that question is the same one that has been asked (somewhat rethorically) before? "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". I'm sure a lot of people are trying to find the answer to that. How is this place, your surroundings, better with you in it?

Noone's gonna tell you what to do, you need to make your own choice. How you gonna contribute to this country is up to you. To help with ideas, I'm gonna share some great activities to bring the spirit of #indonesiaunite to life. Some of these have started way before the bombs. But if it takes that tragedy as a tipping point to get your attention, it's better than never.

My list so far goes like this:

Blood For Life (http://bloodforlife.wordpress.com)
Coin-A-Chance (http://coinachance.com)
Good News From Indonesia (http://goodnewsfromindonesia.com)
Indonesia Bertindak - with their well-known slogan Travel Warning: Dangerously Beautiful (http://indonesiabertindak.multiply.com)
Satoe Indonesia (http://satoeindonesia.org)
Better Indonesia (http://www.facebook.com/betterindonesia)
Magic Happens Clothing - with their line of patriotic t-shirt designs (http://magichappensclothing.blogspot.com)
Kaos Merdeka (http://www.kaosmerdeka.com)
Bolbal - bailing out street vendors and turning ManYoo t-shirts into #indonesiaunite (http://bolbal.wordpress.com)

And my personal cause: local tourism - Visit Indonesia (http://www.indonesia.travel or http://www.my-indonesia.info)

Do let me know if you happen to know great organisations/movements who can embody the #indonesiaunite spirit. I hope the list doesn't end here.

Other than tourism, I am a big believer of supporting local small businesses. It's my passion and my line of work. To support both local tourism and businesses, I am getting as many people as possible to visit a place you've never been before, and spend some money on local shops. If all upper-class Indonesians do this at least once every year, imagine the economic impact to Pulau Komodo, Ambon, Wakatobi, Raja Ampat, Sikuai, Mentawai, Toba, Bromo, etc etc

There is so much you can do, all you need is to have some passion, have some initiative and creativity. Look at your neighbourhood. There must be something you can do to improve it. The guys from @jogtug (Jogja Twitter User Group) is designing some 'propaganda' material to be distributed to tourists, especially foreigners, at tourist spots around Jogja. Of course with the message and spirit of #indonesiaunite. Can you imagine if those tourists put a sticker 'IndonesiaUnite Against Terrorism' on their luggage, and seen by others in their home country? Free below-the-line advertising!! Let them know these f*ckin' bombers are not part of us!!

So pick your cause for #indonesiaunite and start! If you are still confused, at least you can support one of those I listed above.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR NOW? DON"T BE A SHEEP! MOVE!

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Stop Bugging Us

2009-06-03T20:14:00.001-07:00

I found this quote in the book I am reading (yes I haven't finished it yet after 3 weeks) - the late Michael Crichton's State Of Fear. This was exactly my feelings when I was working at a large international bank, where the local management team here in Indonesia -seemingly- had no power to decide things for our own business, without approval from regional office. I can assure you, that sucks. A lot. --- QUOTE ---
"I have a problem with other people deciding what is in my best interest when they don't live where I do, when they don't know the local problems I face, when they don't even live in the same country as I do, but they still feel -in some far-off Western city, at a desk in some glass skyscraper in Brussles or Berlin or New York- they still feel that they know the solution to all my problems and how I should live my life. I have a problem with that."
--- UNQUOTE ---

A long-winded sentence which I can imagine my secondary school English & Literature teacher Mrs. Albar will frown and mark red, but sums up exactly what I feel sometimes. Buzz off and let us decide on our own.
We've got brains too, y'know.

And by which I keep reminding myself not to do the same to my staff or customers. Especially those in remote areas of this beautiful vast country of ours.

We don't decide for them. We help them decide what's best for their lives. And hopefully they appreciate us for doing that. True empowerment. No bullcrap

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Stop caring. Start doing. Get results

2009-05-29T02:41:00.001-07:00

I found this really good, provoking quote from Michael Crichton's book 'State of Fear'.

The book is so full of conspiracy theories about global warming and other environmental concerns, and even has a plot about a group of 'eco-terrorists' who are willing to sacrifice innocent people to justify their cause.

One of the major character is a billionaire who donates a lot of money to environmental causes, but has a collection of Ferraris and flies a private jet everywhere. Kinda reminds me of Jay Kay from Jamiroquai who owns 30 high-performance cars, while widely known as a Greenpeace supporter. On a sidenote, I love his answer when asked about this, "it's actually a good thing 'cause I only get to drive one at a time." Witty

This quote was said during a heated argument between a skeptic character and a celebrity who is also an environmental supporter:

"Caring is irrelevant. Desire to do good is irrelevant. All that counts is knowledge and results."

This, my friends, is so damn true!

In my line of work, I meet so many passionate people who care a lot about this country, and who have the desire to help the unfortunates

Unfortunately -pardon the corny wordplay- some of them don't know how to turn all those care and desire into real results. In one of my discussions with Rene, we talked about how finding my passion was just a start. Turning it into action is a whole lot harder to do. People who have the passion is no good for execution, if they do not possess the skills required.
We want results.
I may be known to some as a tough leader who manage by fear sometimes.
All in the quest for results.
To play fair, I can be the best buddy for those who show they can achieve things.

In my current line of work, having the passion is very important. In fact, we have turned down a lot of people who are good performers who are only after the money. We wanna build a tribe. And people in a tribe has a common vision, not just money.

But caring and desire to help alone are not enough. You gotta have the knowledge and skills to get results

This post's title was thought up to provoke. Hell, all headlines are.

What I want really want to tell people is to stop talking, and start doing more. You gotta have a heart first before your brain start telling your hand to reach out to the right direction.

And I quote the management philosophy from my previous company:

HEART. BRAIN. HAND.

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Searching For Your True Passion? Go Back To Your Childhood

2009-05-27T12:22:00.001-07:00

To those of you who has listened to Rene the Career Coach for the past 2 years, I hope you have started your own soul-searching to find your true passion. His writings can be found here in his fancy-designed website: http://www.passionoutloud.com

As for me, the soul-searching journey to find my passion took 7 years into my career.

Another 2 years trying to find an outlet to live it.

Now just starting to action on it.

An amazing discovery tonight as I found one of my writings which was published in my primary school's yearbook.

Written 20 years ago by a 12-year-old me.

What was amazing about it is it shows hints of my true interests: numbers and business.

Can't be bothered to translate this into English for now, but will do as soon as I got the time:

PETERNAK YG CERDIK
Abdullah ialah seorang yang terkenal cerdik. Di desanya ada seorang tengkulak yang terkenal suka memeras orang. Pada suatu hari seorang peternak ingin menjual 20 ekor bebek hasil ternaknya kepada tengkulak itu. Ia menawarkan harga yg murah, Rp 1.000/ekor. Tapi tengkulak itu menolak. Ia ingin agar bebek itu dijual Rp 700/ekor. Saat mereka bertengkar lewatlah Abdullah. Ia menyarankan agar bebek pertama dijual Rp 5. Bebek kedua 2 kalinya yaitu Rp 10. Akhirnya tengkulak itu setuju. Tapi lama kelamaan ia terkejut. Bebek ke-15 saja harganya Rp 81.920. Dan pada bebek terakhir harganya Rp 2.621.440. Akhirnya tengkulak itu sadar & tidak suka memeras orang lagi.

What can I say?

Geekiness shows itself early :-)

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For Love Or Money?

2009-05-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not referring to the movie (although you can click here if you wanna know about it)

I'm talking about your career. Your job. Whatever you do that earns you the money to continue living.

This is provoked by another great article by Seth Godin, which I recommend everyone to read here. The title "Maybe you can't make money doing what you love" is probably so true for a lot of people. For some, maybe what you love doing doesn't bring the cash you need to pay the bills.

And yet, most if not all successful entrepreneurs are what they are because they turn the things they truly love into successful businesses. So I think the message still stands, if you want to start a business, start with something you like. What you are passionate about.

I consider myself very lucky to finally be able to live my passion. The journey to find it was long and not easy, but the road to living it is even harder. If you're not there yet, my advice is to keep dreaming.

Meanwhile, you need to keep excelling at what you do because it builds your reputation. As I said before, don't settle being ordinary.

I was doing a job I did not particularly like, but I forced myself to be the best at it. Without knowing, it helped me find what I REALLY like to do, because it made me realise what I DON'T like to do. Paradoxical? I think not..

Along the journey, start building your assets to generate passive income. When the time comes to 'dive' and start living your passion, money should no longer be an obstacle. For more advice on how to get to this stage, talk to my wife (www.tujuanloapa.com). Her business is one of my sources of passive income (passive for me because I don't work on it daily :))

You can risk 'earning less' from the work you love, because you would have another (or better, some other) source(s) of income to get by.

So to answer my original question, for love or money? My personal answer is BOTH!

I'm not settling for less

Don't Settle Being Ordinary

2009-05-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Pandji has done it again!

Thanks to him for promoting this blog thru his Facebook and Twitter, bringing in some readers and giving me more reason to post another entry after a while..

Then he asked me to check his last post: http://www.pandji.com/the-land-of-free-the-land-of-hope-and-dreams-law/

Knowing fully that I will have something to say about it.

So that couple is willing to give up their lives here and start something new in the US. As I understand the husband is a lecturer, and they said they will do any job out there to have a 'better life'.

My response to that? He really needs to think hard and figure out his passion, listen more to what Rene the Career Coach has to say: http://www.passionoutloud.com

I always have the principle of "Don't Settle For Ordinary"

Personally, I want to be outstanding in all aspects of my life.

I want to be the best husband for my wife

I want to be the best father for my kids

I want to be the best son to my parents

Then to the outside world,

I want to leave a mark where I work.

Looking back at my career so far, I am glad that I have made a few little marks which people recognised.

If I were that guy, a lecturer, I would aim to make a mark on my students. I would want to see at least some of them becoming somebody, leaving their own marks in their society.

Yeah but I can hear you think that passion as an educator doesn't pay.

No job pays well if you are ordinary, if you are 'the average guy'. As Rene said, "Great money follows great work".

People think the banking industry is glamorous. It may be for people who have reached a certain level, top management. But do you realise the population is only 10% of all people working in a bank? The majority of bank staff are clericals who are earning just enough, nothing fancy.

(Fact: out of a total of 18,000 employees in the bank I used to work, there are only 200 VPs and above)

Being an educator doesn't pay, I hear you say?

Have you ever heard the new Dean of Faculty of Economics UI (FEUI)? Youngest Dean ever, heck he is my age!

As a flying lecturer to some unversities abroad (France, US, wherever), imagine how much he earns. He drives an E-Class, so you can figure.

My cousin went up the ladder from being 'just a lecturer' to be the Program Director in a private Uni. He doesn't drive an E-Class, but he can put his kids through proper education. His son is now in Australia finishing his double degree from UI.

Nothing wrong with being a dishwasher or waiter in a restaurant or taxi driver or office cleaner, IF YOU ARE UNEDUCATED!

Those were jobs I used to do when I was a student. It was enough to get by, I could even buy myself a PlayStation using my own salary back then, after paying for rent.

But for a lecturer to give up his teaching career here and do those jobs in the US?

It's not about the prestige for me. It's about leaving a mark. His mark will change from students having their minds blown open to new knowledge, to clean dishes, happy snobbish customers, or a clean office.

But life is about personal choices. It's his life, I don't live it. I respect his decisions. If I were in his shoes, I don't know if I would still say the same things.

But one thing for sure: I wouldn't settle for ordinary.

Then let's hope he will be the best dishwasher in his restaurant. No grime he can't handle.

Amen to that

What's Your Choice of Media?

2009-04-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

For geeks like me who always wanna be one of the 'early adopters' of new technology, a very big event happened today. Ashton Kutcher became the first man with a million twitter followers. I can't be bothered to post a link of the news, you should be able to google 'ashton kutcher twitter' and find the news all over the blogosphere. This was a part of a race to a million between Ashton (@aplusk) and CNN (@cnnbk). Proud to say I'm one of @aplusk first 500k followers :-). If you're on twitter, you can follow me (@dondihananto) and my wife (@mrshananto - just like Demi Moore is @mrskutcher :-). If you don't know what twitter is, it's OK. Only coolgeeks like me do. For now, at least. Just like Facebook 2 years ago.

No I don't wanna comment on the hype of Ashton vs CNN now. What got me thinking is his 'speech' after he reached the milestone: www.ustream.tv/recorded/1394392.

Acknowledging Ted Turner (CNN founder) as a visionary man who created this giant news channel, he mentioned a very interesting thing. It's a new time where the old media is replaced by new media. Where anyone can CHOOSE what he/she reads, watches and listens. Where we can impose our own censors. You can choose to follow him on twitter just to help get the 1 million mark, but if you don't like his tweets, you can choose to unfollow him, just with a click.

Is there such a thing here in Indonesia? For the sake of this beloved country, I wish hard the day would come sooner than later. For me, the day has come. Yes I still read hardcopy newspaper/magazines sometimes. I still listen to the radio. I still watch TV. But that's because I CHOOSE to read/listen/watch them. Not because they are the only things available for me to get my news/entertainment.

I CHOOSE to subscribe to blogs on topics I'm interested in

I CHOOSE to listen to songs on Myspace

I CHOOSE to find interesting clips on Youtube

I CHOOSE to follow people I find interesting on twitter. I CHOOSE not to follow back some people on twitter, although they follow me.

I CHOOSE to give the thumbs-down to ALL election campaigners on Facebook with no content, who don't even talk about their vision, the dumb-asses who jump on the social media campaign bandwagon just because Obama was successful without even understanding why his online campaign was good. I would even say F*** them for wasting precious bandwidth

I CHOOSE to search for news when I feel like it.

It's all about choice, and hopefully 200million others in Indonesia have that choice, use their right to choose, and choose the smart decisions. I'm tired of people who believe in things just because they saw it on TV, or read in newspaper, or heard on radio. I wish people would be more skeptical and research before they believe in anything.

FILTER. That's what I want people to do. To stop being so gullible and believe anything you're told.

And to choose wisely. Sad to see people voting for celebrities/public figures for parliament just because they appear on TV a lot, without even knowing what they stand for. We need quality, practical laws passed, not some bullshit law about pornography!

So I CHOOSE to get most of my specific news from the 'new media'.

Just as I CHOOSE to sometimes go to the 'old media' for my random news.

I rest my case

My Personal Blogroll

2009-03-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

I know this should just be a permanent section somewhere in my blog instead of an entry.

Just that I am too lazy to log in and tweak blogspot right now. Am posting this entry thru email.

Another reason is that a blog entry would make its way to my Twitter and Facebook Notes, where it would (should!) reach more 'readers'. (Don't think anybody has ever gone to my actual blog except myself)

Anyway, someone asked me where I find my interesting readings online.

So here it goes, the list of blogs I subscribe through Google Reader (highly recommend you use this free service to keep track) and also an RSS reader in my phone (Viigo is highly recommended for BB users, not just for blogs/RSS but also live sports scores. Also free)

Inspirational blogs:
- Seth Godin's blog
- Guy Kawasaki's blog (ambitiously titled How To Change The World)

'Light' blogs about economy & finance:
- Freakonomics
- Infectious Greed
'Light' because sometimes I don't understand what they say either, but a lot of interesting insights

Blogs on gadgets, IT & social media:
- Mashable (personal favourite! Covers social media through all angles)
- Lifehacker
- Engadget (all about gadgets)
- TechCrunch
- Crackberry.com (a must for BB users)
- Blackberry Cool (another one about BB)

Miscellaneous blog:
- BoingBoing.com (one of the highest traffic blogs on Technorati, anything-goes kinda blog)

Those are 'international' blogs I follow, I'm also building a list of Indonesian blogs for another post

Share your favourite blogs in the comments, please!
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The Problem With Customer (Lack Of) Service

2008-10-17T04:48:00.000-07:00

So many organisations define their Customer Service department as the call centre, or complain resolution, instead of the one ensuring that customers can have the best experience when dealing with the product/service. Service that goes all the way, not just when you have a complaint.

This is just me venting my frustration at my mobile phone carrier, and perhaps all Indonesian telcos in general. At least I got a bad experience with 2 companies already, who basically have the same problems:

1. They are treating good-paying, loyal, post-paid customer (like me) to be the same, or sometimes even worse, than pre-paid customers. Hey if I really make you more money, treat me better! Sorry pre-paid users, but I was just to frustrated to have to go to their branch to activate a service just to sign a form. Sounds ridiculous when all the pre-paid customers can just send an SMS to activate. DUMB PRODUCT DESIGN

2. The waiting part. Wait in the queue for an hour when going to the branch. Or wait on the phone for 10 minutes just to get a stupid answer (happened to me last nite, total call lasted 25 minutes, still got the proof in my call history).

3. When you call at midnight, seems like the security guard is the one picking up the phone. Those guys doesn't seem like they understand what I was talking about! Asking me how much my last bill was stupid, he had that info in front of his face. Asking me which number I can be contacted is even dumber. You mean I subscribe to your service and you don't know which number you assign to me? D'oh

4. Call centre scripts being over-friendly and sounding, well, scripted. I need someone to solve my problem, not sweet-talk. Talk normally and sound like a human being, not a voice recording.

5. When something goes wrong because of your fault, do not ask me to come to your branch to sign a form. You fix it for me, I've done my part by calling you and telling you my problems. I've had enough inconvenience already, don't ask me to go back to problem No. 2

6. If you advertise something on newspaper, billboards, radio, make sure you can deliver it! Marketing for Idiots 101 - Do Not Overpromise

Indecision 2008

2008-10-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

And I just found out about this website from Comedy Central on the Election

Would You Just Make Up Your Mind?

2008-10-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Found this post from Seth Godin's blog on people who just couldn't make up their mind

I totally agree with his opinion that sometimes making a decision is scary. Just realised that people are scared of making decisions because of the responsibility involved.

People just don't want to be responsible for making the wrong decision, and would rather have someone decide for them.

Shifting responsibility. If something goes wrong, blame the guy who told me.

In this turbulent economic condition, people are even more scared about their money. (This even includes people who have no money). I get more and more questions from people about what to do with their money. What scares me the most is that they seem ready to just follow what I say.

I do read and discuss about finances a lot. Financial blogs, from the very serious ones like FT to the outspoken individuals like Infectious Greed (very highly recommended if you like opinionated, partisan views). CNBC, magazines, radio shows, friends, the reference list is endless.

But please FILTER, then DECIDE.

It's your money. Your future. Something screws up, it's your ass on the line. Something blooms, it's your flower to keep

The Greatest Virtue

2008-09-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

The greatest virtue is the ability to make a joke and laugh at yourself

Another greatest virtue is empathy: the ability to think what other people think, and to feel what others feel

Another greatest virtue is to be able to take as many viewpoints on a certain issue, and then make up your own view

Another greatest virtue is to have the power of influence: to be able to bring others from the opposing argument to agree to your opinion

The greatest virtue is to realise that there is no single greatest virtue. Now that's what we call a paradox

(Not So Good) Human Nature

2008-03-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Last night I read a very interesting blogpost in priyadi's blog about a new 'investment opportunity' called Sunshine Empire, which to me sounded like a money game/ Ponzi scheme/scam similar to Dressels, which tanked just a year ago.

Reading his article, I can totally relate to him and I think he presented his views very logically. What amazed me was people's responses. Some, who are obviously related to SE, went on a very defensive mode and presented his own 'facts', which to me were still a bunch of crap and a sane mind should be able to see through the scam. However some who do not seem to be related to SE at all, went on an attack accusing priyadi, questioning his motive for writing that post, etc. What the ****? Why can't someone just say what he thinks about something without being attacked like that? Especially if he presented his views in very logical manner?

Which got me thinking, there are several human traits that I am also facing at work now, quite similar to what happened in priyadi's blog. Fortunately for me, my workplace culture is still quite hierarchical and being close to the top of the pyramid enables me to shut up people from down below. It's an easy way out that is only beneficial for me in the short term but I really believe is not healthy for the long term. Being so self-centered, I still think a lot of my opinions are right :-) What is wrong for me is the way I get people to follow my opinion. Instead of getting full buy-in from them, I force my opinions and decisions down their throats. Not a very good leader and I wouldn't want to be treated that way. But anyway if I were on the receiving end of that I wouldn't stay quiet but will try to start a logical debate going, until somebody get logically convinced.

All that brought me to the topic of human nature, the negative ones that I think we should all try to stop:

Belief without filter. I think it s only applicable to religion. Religious beliefs are not always logical, sometimes you just have to believe.. Again this is only my basic priciple, as I know a lot of people out there are trying to use their logic to understand religions. So please don't start a debate with me about religion. However outside religion, I think people should not just accept what they see and hear without thinking. Somehow this sense of skepticism is so ingrained within myself that I always try to analyse whatever I see, hear or read before forming my own opinion about the subject matter. I think more people should do the same. Question things for the sake of understanding them, which does not necessarily mean rejecting any ideas. After the round of questioning you will either believe it or reject it altogether, or maybe filter some parts of the idea. But this is a healthy process which I hope I can pass down to my kids. Self-filter is the best filter, better than any parental, societal or cultural norms. Once you have it, you should be able to get through life ok. Of course, God willing...
Personal attacks. In the midst of a logical debate in priyadi's blog, someone come and attack his person, accusing his motives. Why can't people just separate opinions and the people? If you don't agree with someone's opinion, debate it logically! Present the facts that support your opinion or facts that kill your 'opponent's. Facts that do not lie. Logical facts, even better, numbers.. If after those logical debate you still want to believe in whatever you want to believe, then fine, go ahead, don't launch personal attacks. IT JUST MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID (And I hate stupid people)

So please people, use your brain more... in dealing with yourself or other people, then this world might just be a better place (at least for me)

Comedians (Part 2)

2008-03-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

It's the first month for me having a 3G modem from Indosat. Reception is not so good at home and speed is not much faster than dialups, but in Central or South Jakarta the signal is pretty good and I got to experience real broadband for once...

One of the reasons I want a broadband is to enable me to watch/download videos from youtube and similar sites. The experience of on-demand entertainment is fun, finally being part of 'the long tail'. It was a long weekend last week and I got to spend some time browsing. At the same time the show 'Last Comic Standing' was on Star World, and it reminded me of how much I liked standup comedy that I even wrote about it in my previous entry. I only caught the last few minutes of the show on TV, but having my broadband connection, I could search the clips on youtube, cool!

So I did, and ended up spending all night downloading clips of many different standup comics, laughing my arse off. Today I got some free time and spent it watching those downloaded clips again, and again wondering whether there are any of these standups in Indonesia. The power of google enabled me to search for the term 'stand up comedy indonesia' and found some interesting links:

Komedikus Erektus blog (komedian.blogspot.com) is by a guy very seriously wanting to lift Indonesian comedy by introducing standup comedy, complete with his theoretical analysis of great comedians and even Judy Carter writings. He even attempted performing his own act for a comedian competition, although failing really badly (not because he was not funny, but because the judges don't get his solo act, ouch). Mas Bambang, I salute you!

GBT (gbt.blogspot.com) is another Indonesian who is interested in standup comedy, a rare breed like me?

I'm trying to contact these guys, to start a standup comedy fan circle in Indonesia, and maybe in future help find brilliant emerging comedians! Hey, this could be my new dream! Ha!

I (Don't) Have A Dream

2008-03-25T02:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight will be the launch of Pandji's first album, a rap album, something not very common in Indonesia. Although, as I discovered, there is quite a large hip-hop musician community here. But being outside the mainstream, only known to a few. But this is another story.

Pandji is the morning show broadcaster at Hard Rock FM who I got to know because my wife has her weekly financial planning talkshow there. They are the reason why I'm writing this entry. It's about having a dream and striving towards it, which gives me a sense of purpose in life.

Pandji had a life-long dream of making his own hip-hop album, being a fan of the music. In his blog, he mentioned it was 'a dream 15 years in delay'. Respect to him, it was by no means a small dream... how many talented musicians out there want to make a music album but cannot find his/her way through the maze? While a lot of people with no talent managed to make theirs, but that's beside the point.. The point is, he had a big dream and worked his arse off to achieve it, one way or another. Which to me is really really cool.. I bought his album last week, and being a hip-hop fan, I liked it, especially the smart and provocative lyrics.

My wife had a dream of creating her own business of financial planning and making it mainstream. It started with our own financial problems, having almost zero balance in our bank account with some, thankfully not too large, credit card debt. All this happened when our firstborn was a few months old, the time where we were supposed to start planning for his life, how to feed him, how to put him through school, and all that. Major slap in our faces. From then on she was very determined to learn about personal financial planning, took up the subject when studying for her masters degree, certifications, etc. etc. Building a startup company was not easy, especially a startup in a virtually non-existent industry. After 5 years, the business started to take off and generating good income as well as achieving its social goals of helping its customers and the community in general. The smaller part of her dream has come true.

Now, reflecting on to myself, I just realised that I have never had such big dreams. I had smaller goals which I wouldn't call dreams, as they were more like career goals. And they are pretty short term goals. God has been so kind to me that those ambitions have mostly been achieved sooner than I thought. The question now is, what's next? Like I mentioned, having a dream and working towards it gives me a sense of purpose in life. The scary thing about the 'what's next?' question is, I don't have the answer yet. I am doing a lot of soul-searching inside, asking myself what I want to achieve in life. Nowadays I just go with the flow, just trying to get by. That is very scary to me, having no purpose in life. Maybe to help me feel better, I should also ask Pandji after his album launch, what's next? Knowing him, he's probably already got the answer.

I have to start dreaming again....

Comedians

2008-03-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

I have been watching Eddie Izzard's shows (thanks Ndari for introducing us to this brilliant guy). If you've never seen him, go to youtube and search for his clips.

I have always been fascinated by stand-up comedians ever since I first saw them. I think the first time I see a stand-up was Eddie Murphy's old video. It's really cool being able to talk for hours and tell jokes after jokes and actually being very funny. I admire standup comics because they are everything I am not. Ever since then I keep looking for any chance to watch standup performances, have seen quite a few now, the great Robin Williams, Ben Elton, that old Scottish guy with long white beard (how could I forget his name?), a lot of unknowns from Australian Comedy Festival (those shown on TV - the Festival was in Melbourne, far away from where I used to be in the West Coast) and now I found another Eddie (Izzard)

So I was introduced to this world of standup comedy by watching Eddie (Murphy) when I was 15. Where have they been for the first 15 years of my life? Then I realise that this form of comedy didn't exist in Indonesia. Comedians always perform in groups, and not telling stories, but performing skits. Not even skits, they are more like a full-blown comedy theatre, with story lines. Live sitcom performance if you like. I am not saying they are no good, they are brilliant too. I grew up listening to taped performances and going to some shows by legendary comedy groups like Srimulat.

I wonder why none of the great Indonesian comedians perform standups? If I recall, some of them were quite good doing monologues, especially Gepeng from Srimulat, my childhood hero. I have seen some attempts at standup by Indonesian comedians, but they were more like memorising stories out of magazines' jokes section than talking about nothing. Not a criticism of Indonesian comedy, I'm saying perhaps we just cannot do it. Being a team-oriented nation, our comedians may just perform better in groups.

If you know good Indonesian stand-ups, please let me know, I wanna know more...

First Post - Provoke Me!

2008-03-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

I am not someone who comes up with fresh ideas... Not sure why I always have that difficulty. For example, I have always known that I love to write. Ever since my wife had her blog in her company's website (www.tujuanloapa.com), my competitive side tells me that I have to have my own blog too. So I signed up to blogger.com, but for a whole year was stuck not knowing what's gonna be the overall topic for my blog. Why? Because it was difficult for me to come up with something new. I only knew that I wanna write in English so that my blog can have foreign audience as well. Felt like going back to my arts and craft classes in primary school where I would be stuck with a clean sheet of white paper for one whole hour not knowing what to draw. I am not like Pandji who is so creative, proactive and can provoke other people (kejutan2008.com). I am one of those who are always provoked by others' ideas, including his blog entries.

But it's not that I am not creative (in denial...), I just cannot come up with my own (fresh) ideas. After a while I realise I am a true commentator, I always have something to say about something, being quite opinionated. I think my comments are quite creative... :-) So what I do a lot is building on other people's ideas. Not plagiarism! When I heard about someone's ideas, my little brain starts to think about it and I can usually add to that idea. Like responding to others' blog entries. Sometimes my responses are longer than the actual article. Or when I make jokes in conversations, I usually crack more jokes adding on something that has been said by other people. It happens a lot at work. When working as a team, my role is always the devil's advocate giving opinions on others' ideas, then add on those to improve them. Or at least if not improved, we know whether that idea will be acceptable by others.

So I have decided, the contents of my blog will be my reaction to whatever I read, see or hear in my life. There will always be a reference to what I read/see/hear which made me write my own blog entries here. I can be quite sure there will be very few original ideas coming purely from myself. I just wanna start a discussion on others' original ideas. Just to make sure there are no premature death of brilliant ideas just because they are never discussed.

Don't worry, I won't claim those ideas come from me. That is blatant plagiarism and I am very much against that. As someone who cannot come up with fresh ideas, I can appreciate those creative people. I wish I was one of them, but I've come to accept that I am not one of them. That's not my role in this world, I am here to support brilliant people and help them build their ideas and perhaps make them come true.

So provoke me!