Up : An Excellent Movie

I just watched a very touching and good cartoon movie,Up last weekend. This movie produced by Pixar ( in cooperation with Disney Group ).

Some people might be curious why I watched cartoon movie,as an adult it must be strange if I like it. I like good movies and so far I believe cartoon movies produced by Pixar always good. They have good stories,humanist,simple,very touching and very good quality of pictures as well.

Up is also the case. It basically told a story of old man,Carl who has unfulfilled childhood dream of adventuring around the world. His dream finally came true only after he was very old and his wife passed away. He travelled to South America using his own house floating in the sky suspended by helium balloons. He is accompanied by a small and cute boyscout,Russell. Russell actually wanted to earn a badge for assisting elderly. The adventure to South America is basically interesting with surprises and the funny part with the appearance of Dug,a talking golden retriever and Kevin,a big female bird.

Overall this movie is good and I would recommend watching it. Up is a movie that can touch and entertain you at the same time !

Role of online citizens in Indonesia

Have you ever heard about the death of Indonesian student in Singapore recently ? David Hartanto Wijaya suddenly became a famous name in Indonesia. FYI Singapore’s coronary court just made decision that the death was a suicide instead of murder / homicide.


Why David’s case can be a so wellknown case in Indonesia or may be in Singapore now ? The reasons I think mainly because Indonesian media put a lot of attention on it and many online citizens actively supporting David’s family to find the truth out of it ( such as Iwan Piliang,Christovita Wiloto,OC Kaligis and thousand if not million of other online citizens ).
Even current Vice Presiden,Jusuf Kalla shows his support and the next Vice President,Boediono also shows his support ( during his recent visit to Singapore ).


What I would like to write not about a debate whether it’s a suicide or not. It remains a secret now ( and may be will forever be ) and I think enough people discussing and investigating for it. Other angle on this side is how online citizens ( in Indonesia ) can be a great advocating group. This trend also can be seen during recent Prita’s case ( which not fully solved yet ).


Indonesian online citizens are so diverse (affiliations,background,motivation and etc. ). Recent fantastic growth on Facebook's membership and usage of Blackberry is a contributing factor on the existence of new Indonesian online citizens group. Many “active” online citizens voice out their opinions and advocating something via Facebook,mailing list and etc. Sometimes the voices are reasonable and apolitical. But sometimes the voices can be so unreasonable and clearly show conflict of interest ( for example supporting strongly and I think blindly one presidential candidate over others ). On David’s case the online citizens managed to unite and direct the opinion in Indonesia that David did not commit suicide and something was wrong here. I won’t comment on this more as I don’t know the full fact of it. There are 2 points I want to show here. The high side of this unifying and directing is the creation of public /national's interest and support on David’s case. The low side of this unifying and directing opinion to one side can be a prejudice and the spread of multiple conspiracy theories.


Well,we'll see more how this trend will develop further in Indonesia. Hopefully it will bring more channels to voice out concern,opinion and etc in this democratic and beautiful country. And hopefully it won’t be hijacked by conflict of interest and other malice intentions on the name of online citizens.

Infrastructure development in Indonesia

Have you ever heard the news of Suramadu bridge ? suramadu stands for surabaya madura in Indonesia. This bridge is basically the longest and newest bridge in South East Asia. This bridge just recently opened for public.
I won't discuss more on this bridge but would like to discuss more on infrastructure development in indonesia. Comparing to neighbor countries Indonesia clearly is lack of infrastructure in term of quantity and quality. Soekarno Hatta airport had been overcrowded and lack of essential facilities ( clean toilet and etc ) if we compared it with Changi airport,KLIA or Suvarnhabumi. Also massive traffic jams in Jakarta basically shows another lack of infrastructure.
Having good infrastructure is very important to :
a. attract investment especially from overseas
b. better efficiency in the economic process ( less amount of petrol and time wasted and etc. )
c. creating jobs ( infrastructure project can absorb a lot of workers with low qualification so reducing joblessness ).
d. enhance the security and also cooperation among regions

The government has been trying to improve the infrastructure and with the recent election result I believe this efforts will be intensified.
Clearly on my point of view as Indonesian and travelling quite significantly overseas several important and strategic projects need to be initiated by government as follow :
1.Bridge linking sumatera and jawa
Sumatera and Jawa is the two most important and populous islands in Indonesia.
Linking them basically will help the economic and social exchange as well between this two islands in Indonesia.
But again :
a.the distance is quite long
b.techically challenging
c.need massive costs

If I'm not wrong,Tommy Winata,one of Indonesia tycoon sponsored the feasibility study of this Java Sumatera bridge. We'll know the result of it in couple of years though and if it's feasible will be followed by may be 5- 10 years development

2.MRT in Jakarta
currently under study for the 1st link and supported by Japan.
This is one of the way to reduce massive traffic jams in Jakarta.
Bangkok as the city with almost same size and almost the same population already has MRT and also Bangkok Train which helping them to reduce traffic jams.
Clearly Jakarta needs more than 1 link of MRT in the future.

3.High speed rail from Soekarno Hatta airport to Jakarta city center
Currently under study as well. The plan is to link Soekarno Hatta airport to Manggarai station.
Singapore,KL and Bangkok already have this high speed rail link in place with varied quality.
Currently only car,taxi and bus are the option in Soekarno Hatta airport.

4.Highway in Java and Sumatera
As two most important islands in Indonesia it's a must to have more highways ( both quantity and quality ).
It's like a blood vein for economic activity and people movement

5.Highway linking Semarang - Solo - Yogyakarta
I studied in Yogya before so clearly know that this link is important and can be very useful as it will link 3 major cities in central Java.

6.Bigger airport in major cities
Government has started it with airport in Soekarno Hatta ( terminal 3 ),Palembang airport,Kuala Namu airport,Sultan Hasanuddin airport.
But several other cities need bigger airport such as :
a.Balikpapan
as the main entry poin to resource rich province, East Kalimantan

b.Denpasar
as we expect more tourists will come to Bali and Lombok in the future


7. Infrastructure in remote but strategic place
For example : Biak in Papua ( future satellite launching ) ,Morotai nearby Halmahera,Natuna ( oil rich blocks ),Tarakan / Nunukan ( nearby disputed Ambalat block ),Sabang.

8.Double double track rail link in Java and Sumatera
since Java and Sumatera already has the rail link ( Dutch built it before during the occupation period ) so it is easier to improve and add it so that faster train can be utilized. With faster and safer train I'm very sure people will comeback to use it again.

9.Highway linking Surabaya - Malang
If this highway can be built again so the movement is easier,help the economic and of course people then can use suramadu bridge to go to madura island after that.
We can emulate the success stories of highway linking Jakarta - Bandung which clearly make many Jakartans willing to go to Bandung every weekend eventhough it also cause massive jams in Bandung.

10.Ports especially in major exporting areas
For example : Kendal,Central Java; Tanjung Priok,Jakarta;Tanjung Api-api,South Sumatera.


That's just some of my thoughts. I can only say it's very important for Indonesia to improve its infrastructure in the next 5- 10 years to be able to compete with other countries.

Unique commercial from Air NZ

I just surfed in Youtube and found couple of unique commercials from Air New Zealand. You can type in key words such as : nothing to hide Air NZ,bare essentials of safety from Air NZ and etc. You will get into the link immediately.

I think they are simple,unique and naughty in the good sense. The actors / actresses are basically naked and then covered by body paint. If you don’t take a look on it closely or long enough you might think they wear uniforms but in fact it’s only paint. One of the video actually be played during safety briefing prior to the plane take offs. I bet all the passengers now are very attentive to the video compared to the standard video which mostly ignored by passengers in the past. Great idea Air NZ !. I won’t comment much except view it now as it’s hillarious !!

Revival of Indonesian Defence Industry

Today I just read about the handover of new pansers from PINDAD to TNI ( Indonesian Armed Forces ) . SBY,Indonesian President came directly to witness this handover ceremony. This is a part of order of 154 pansers worth more than 1.127 trilliun Rupiahs.

Worth to know that Indonesia has been developing intensively defence industry since Soeharto’s time under the direction of Habibie,the long time Research and Technology Minister. Under his supervision Indonesia has PAL ( ship building industry ), PINDAD ( related with the army equipment ),IPTN / PT Dirgantara Indonesia ( aircraft ) with quite expansive projects. CN 250 was one of the major achievement of IPTN in the past albeit less success commercially overseas.

Since Soeharto’s toppled down not much news and intensivity anymore towards this 3 strategic defence companies. 2 reasons for this I believe because the economic basically colapsed so state coffers not enough to fund all this expensive but not urgent things ( need to compare it with food,health,education for people ) and the next because the new government then forced to focus solving other urgent problems first such as corruption,security issues and etc.

After a decade Indonesia has basicallly improved a lot so that state coffers recovering and new government then also has solved multiple problems ( Poso,Aceh,education,food and etc. ). Now we can see there’s shift to take care more of this defence companies again after “a bit neglected” for couple of years. Having own defence industry is very strategic as Indonesia,4th populous country in the world need to be self sufficient after experiences in the past taught that buying it from western countries might bring troubles if embargoes imposed for human right or political reasons. Second strategic thing from having own good defence industry is exporting it to other countries. Like it or not Russia still getting a lot of money by selling weapons,aircraft,submarine and etc. It helped them a lot during the economic woes early 90 after the collapses of Soviet Union. Even China now exporting its weapons and etc eventhough it’s more for political reason and increasing its influence / power.

Indonesia Government has shown its support as well to domestic defence industry.Big orders for PINDAD is one of the way to help strategic defence companies. Recently there has been talk as well between BP Migas and PT DI on the cooperation to use more domestic aircrafts and helicopters for the oil and gas industry. I worked in the offshore before so clearly understand that airplane and helicopter really needed for both personnels and equipments transportation to the remote rig site ( offshore or onshore ). Imagine sending people every week to remote location in Natuna. Imagine as well the need to fly in personnels from Jakarta or Surabaya all the way to Papua.Indonesia Ministry of Defence ordered 2 unit of corvets ( so called Program Korvet Nasional ) from PT PAL. It is going to cost around 8 trilliun Rupiahs to finish this 2 units.

Final word from me : Congratulations to PINDAD,PAL and PT DI. Hopefully can be more successful in the future.

Pyramid Scheme Bisnis 5 Milyar

Several of my friends recently sent invitation to me via Facebook to join Bisnis 5 Milyar. Bisnis 5 Milyar means 5 Billion Rupiahs Business. It can be checked here http://www.bisnis5milyar.com/ ( only available in Indonesian ).

My intention to write here not to support it but clearly opposing it. This website clearly offers a pyramid scheme. If you see TV everyday or read newspaper you will at least hear about Ponzi and Madoff Scheme. Both scheme are typically ilegal pyramid scheme which managed to cheat and deprived thousands if not million of people lives.In fact I wrote about another MLM scheme as well on February 2007.

This Bisnis 5 Milyar claims that no last member for this scheme. If you create a pyramid with double multiplication then soon or later it will need more people than currently in this planet ( 6 billion people by last account ). The payment made by new member looks very little,only 180,000 Rupiah ( 18 USD).The scheme itself gives 50,000 Rupiahs ( 5 USD ) to the webmaster whom I believe acting as the "pharaoh" or "king" of this scheme. The 1st level will get 50,000;2nd level get 10,000;2nd level get another 10,000;3rd level get 10,000;4th level get 10,000 and 5th level get 50,000 ( another "pharaoh" in this scheme ). From the money distribution we can easily see that who will benefit the most from this scheme. First rank is the webmaster. 2nd rank will be the highest rank after this webmaster.
The website also claims that you will get e-book worth more than 180,000 Rupiahs. I don't know what type of e-book they are offering. But I believe there are many free e-books around in the internet which can be got free of cost,instead paying 18 USD to get it.

On the 180,000 Rupiah for membership it is not small amount of money in Indonesia though. For some people it can be enough for one week cost of living.With large amount of people in Indonesia even if the scheme only getting 1 million member then the webmaster can get easily 50 billion minimum after couple of years. It's more than enough to enjoy rich live overseas and abandon this scheme after that.

The pyramid scheme like this usually will end up in 3 ways.
1.The membership run dry
When the lowest rank can not get more people to be a member then the problem started.
No money circulated around anymore. Soon or later the scheme will be abandoned or forgotten.

2.The pharaoh or king of this scheme run away
After collecting large amount of money the king of this scheme will simply run away,abandon whole members under him / her and enjoying his / her good lives somewhere else

3. Being stopped by police
In many occasion police will stop them,usually a bit late. But better late than never as some money still can be recovered,some people will get punished and can save potential members from being cheated

So final conclusion from me : Please don't join this type of pyramid scheme. Be careful and don't get cheated by it eventhough if it's small amount of money.

Good News From Indonesia

There’s one new website which struck and amazed me since first time : http://goodnewsfromindonesia.com. I know this website from one of the mailing list recently.


After a decade become a sickman of Asia,Indonesia has became underestimated and even insulted by other countries ( including the neighbor also ). The medias tend to report only the bad and negative things in Indonesia such as corruption,plane went down,demonstration,crime and etc. The overemphasize of media on this clearly creates perception gap in overseas as well. Many people become afraid ( too afraid I think ) to go to Indonesia. What I meant as perception gap here is there’s clearly a big gap between what people think and what really happen in Indonesia. People tend to forget simple statistics such as Indonesia has 240 million people,large area and developing democratic country itself. If we hear 10 car accidents in Indonesia each day,is it really that much ? By absolute number certainly higher than smaller countries such as Brunei or Singapore but percentagewise most probably almost the same or a bit higher. Other easy examples was plane accidents in Indonesia around 2 years ago. There were couple of plane accidents in a row which caused EU immediately banned Indonesian airlines from flying over their airspace. Is it that bad ? I can say it’s bad to have accident but you need to start counting number of flights performed in Indonesia daily. With so many cities and airlines serving the Indonesian airspace can be easily hundred,if not thousand of flight performed,do we hear accident every day or every week ?.


Now I’ll come back again on this website which should be my main writing focus now. This website has good graphical content and arrangement. I don’t know who’s the admin or owner of this website but they certainly have good idea and looks like it get updated quite quickly. From this website we can see that Indonesia is also good and has multiple achievements in sport,technology,economic even sexiest female politician. It even give you chance to share your own good news on Indonesia to other readers. So instead become mentally negative after reading the biased media all the time I would recommend reading this as well to have a balanced view. Happy reading !!

Fake HP Spare Parts

I just came back yesterday from HP Service Centre Malaysia ( in Jalan Gelengang,KL ). I just found out that both my power adaptor and battery are fake one. Sad story ya 

A bit of story on this. I bought my power adaptor in Kuala Belait late last year. Do you know where Kuala Belait is ? Kuala Belait is a small town in Brunei,basically an oil town. It’s nearer to Miri instead to Bandar Seri Begawan,the capital. Having computer problem in this small and quiet town could be a very complicated problem. I had to go to the computer store there ( in fact 1 of the best stores there out of several other choices ). This “ X “ store then had to order it from somewhere ( KL according to them ) and I ended have to wait for about 3 weeks to get it.Guess what ? I got a fake one with the price of genuine one . Be very careful guy as a lot of fake power adaptor are in the market. There’s one and in fact very easy differentiator between fake and genuine one. Genuine power adapter from HP has no light indicator. Meanwhile most ( if not all ) of the fake one have it.

How about the battery ? I bought it in Sungai Wang Plaza,in fact the store got it from Low Yat Plaza,the famous place to buy IT stuffs in Kuala Lumpur. The battery turned to be a fake one as well. When I bought it actually I was already suspicious as there’s made in china sign and also no HP mark on it. The battery ran smoothly only for 1- 2 weeks and after that it works like flashing lights ( sometimes it can be charged and sometimes can’t ).

The combination of this 2 spare parts caused my computer ran very slow even if I only ran MS Word or Winamp. Based on HP Engineer,the power adaptor might cause the motherboard to run very slow. In return the whole computer ran very slow.

Anyway it’s all only story now as I finally have the new power adaptor and battery. My computer come back to normal and I now can work easily with it. Just a lesson learn that we need to be careful with fake spare parts as it might cause more horrendous problems than what we might expect.

Taxi services in South East Asia

After constantly travelling in and out in several SEA ( South East Asia ) countries I am interested to make a quick and easy overview on taxi services among countries in SEA. I would include Malaysia,Singapore,Indonesia,Vietnam,Thailand,Myanmar and Brunei. I left Laos,Cambodia and Philipines out of this list as I never go to this 3 countries so can’t make any objective and direct observation.

I would start from Indonesia first and taking the samples from Jakarta and Bali. In Jakarta and Bali basically the famous brand is Blue Bird and its group ( Silverbird,Goldenbird and etc ). Outside of this many taxi companies are around with variety of quality. In Indonesia you can easily differentiate between good taxis and bad taxis. What I mean as good taxi here is the Aircon working fine,the driver use meter and the service attitude is there ( they don’t try to make more money by driving you around several more kilometres ). Bad taxi practically means the opposite of this ( broken aircon,no meter,bad smell and no service attitude at all ). It’s general knowledges that you don’t use bad taxis if you don’t want troubles. Good taxi brands in Indonesia are such as Blue Bird ( blue color with very specific symbol but be careful that some bad taxis use this blue color intentionally albeit with different symbol ),Gamya ( green color with specific symbol as well ),Express ( white color and has cheaper meter rate ) and several other brands. Comparing the amount of good and bad taxi in Indonesia I can say that good taxi has much higher percentage compared to the bad taxis.

Second country for comparison is Malaysia. I would take the sample from Kuala Lumpur and Miri. In Kuala Lumpur it can be quite annoying experience. From airport you won’t have any problem as practically only 1 taxi company operating from KLIA ( airport limo ) and another taxi company operating from LCCT ( the Airasia budget terminal ). Your experience will only start once you’re inside KL and the suburb of it. Many of the taxis basically don’t want to use meter especially if they know you are foreigners,refuse to go to some destinations if they expect traffic jam,charging more for opening the trunks or during rainy time and etc. How can we differentiate between good and bad taxis ? I can say it’s a bit difficult and tricky part here. To be honest I can’t differentiate it. The only way to work it out is by knowing and storing as much as possible the phone number of trusted taxi drivers and call them if you need them. Of course you still need to give them some tips,but it’s better than getting ripped off by crooked taxi drivers. The amount of good and bad taxis in KL is quite balance I think. In Miri basically no meter being used at all. There’s common rate used by all driver. Let see if you want to go from a hotel to a mall over there then the driver will charge you with that common rate ( which already expensive ). You have no choice here as all the drivers follow this common agreement.

Third country for comparison is Singapore. Singapore is quite expensive place to stay. Using taxi can be a quite luxury as you have MRT and bus as good alternatives. However almost all the taxis in Singapore are good ( use meter,clean,aircon working,better service attitude ). Very small percentage of taxis in Singapore can be bad such as hiding to wait for midnight rate and etc. Overall I can say the good taxi has much higher percentage here.

Fourth country for comparison is Thailand. I would use the taxis in Bangkok as sample. Taxis in Bangkok are abundant and has different color on the car body to differentiate as well. I can say most are quite good ( use meter,clean,don’t try to cheat you and etc. ). However you’ll find small percentage of crooked taxi drivers. As a main tourism destination many foreigners flock in to Thailand. Taxi driver might try to cheat you by advising you to go to “ Chinese cultural center “,”best gem shop “ or “ massage parlour”. Be extra careful when taxi driver politely advising you to do this as simply Chinese cultural center can easily mean a store selling expensive Chinese vases which you might not want to buy and see in Thailand. But why the taxi driver even bother to bring you there ? Simple,they get commision for bringing the people. Overall I still think the taxi services in Thailand is quite good.

Fifth country for comparison is Vietnam. Vietnam is a fast growing country and also with heavy dollarized economy. USD is highly valued here beside Vietnam Dong. So far from my experience there are two good and recommended taxi companies there ( Maylinh and Vinasun ). Good and recommended because you will have less proability to be cheated as the control from the company is stronger and the car condition is good ( sedan or Toyota Innova ). The rest of the taxi companies are in grey area. Some taxi drivers from this “ grey area “ companies might try to cheat you,don’t use meter and etc. Don’t be afraid with all the threatening remarks from the taxi driver if you’re sure you’re right. I never see so far a violent taxi driver. Even if they try to cheat you,if they can’t get it they’ll just leave and looking for next victim.

Sixth and last country for comparison is Brunei. Brunei is a small and rich country surrounded by Sarawak and Sabah. Basically taxis are not abundant here as most of the people have their own cars. However taxis are present in Kuala Belait,Seria,Tutong and Bandar Seri Begawan. Most of the drivers are ok eventhough they don’t use meter. They just tell you in advance how much the cost for a ride and if you agree they’ll bring you straight away to the destination. As car is cheap here so the car used for taxi is relatively good as well. I can say high percentage of taxi is good.

The overviews I made above purely are based on my personal experiences and view. There’s no hidden intention behind it and hope it can be helpful as well.

Long time hibernating

It has been quite sometimes that I never write or post anything into this blog ( in fact from early 2007 ).Work and family commitment really forced me to hibernate a while. I just come back from this long hibernation and plan to write again whenever any interesting idea / news passing by or simply whenever I have time and internet access.So hopefully my new and regular postings will bring another enriching colour to already busy internet spaces and blogs.

Indonesian General Election

Tomorrow,8th July will be another important day for Indonesian all over the world. It’s the presidential general election day. After Soeharto’s toppled down 11 years ago Indonesia has been transforming a lot and become the 3rd largest democratic country in the world ( after USA and India ). This will be the 3rd general election after 1999 and 2004 but practically the 2nd time Indonesian can choose directly their president and vice president.
There are 3 candidates for 2009 election ( Megawati – Prabowo,incumbent SBY – Boediono and JK – Wiranto ). All the formal campaigns already ended. Heated debates already passed. Black campaigns also already flied around. Many survey institutions ( or we can say it as companies ?? ) published their polling results already. Some said that Megawati will win,some said that SBY will win and some said that JK will win. Again this are all parts of democratic process.
The big question now is who will win tomorrow. As Indonesian myself I can only guess but I hope and pray whoever win then he / she will bring the betterment of the whole nations ( economic,security,social,less corruption and etc ). I also hope that whoever loss will accept it so the whole nation can move forward together again as 1 Nation.
So final closing mark from me is Happy Election Day tomorrow !!

TREE Programme in Germany

TREE Project: Committed to accelerating the implementation of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency globally

Active involvement of Indonesian industrial and governmental participants

Berlin, 09/03/17 - Indonesia has a huge potential for renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, the proportion of renewable energy used in the overall energy mix is only about 5% at present. Through its National Energy Policy, the Indonesian government has set itself the goal of increasing this proportion to 17% by 2025. The current low utilization of renewable energy has several causes, including high investment costs, building, lack of financial support, lack of local manufacturers for renewable energy equipment and shortages of professional resources.

The removal of the latter obstacle is the aim of the TREE project (Transfer Renewable Energy & Efficiency), initiated by the Renewables Academy (RENAC) in Berlin. A total of 300 engineers and decision makers from 14 countries – among them Indonesia - are currently attending one-week seminars in Berlin, in order to train in renewable energy and energy efficiency. TREE is funded by the International Climate Protection Initiative of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. As a provider of continuing education on renewable energy, RENAC specializes in spreading German know-how internationally. Germany belongs to one of the few countries that already have many years of experience in this field. "From the TREE course I expected to gain knowledge about renewable energy from the cutting-edge technologies implemented in Germany." says Marlina Pandin, TREE participant from the Agency of Research and Development for Energy and Mineral Resources at Indonesia's energy ministry. Similarly Herman Huang, Business Development Manager of Shell Technology Venture: "My expectation was to know the latest trends and knowledge of renewable energy."

In addition to the technical training in the RENAC training center, where solar thermal, photovoltaic and energy efficiency components from leading German manufacturers are available for practical exercises, political and economic strategies are taught to the participants. Marlina Pandin: "The TREE seminar has helped me to understand not only the technological aspects of RE, but also various aspects such as funding, culture and global and local issues in developing and implementing RE". "I am really interested in the Feed-in Tariff which has been successfully implemented in Germany" was the motivation for participating in TREE given by Andriah Feby Misna from the Indonesian Directorate General of Electricity and Energy Utilization, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Andriah Feby Misna is also responsible for promoting the energy efficiency and conservation program (EE & C) in Indonesia in the New-Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Directorate. "My expectations from TREE are enhancing my knowledge on Energy Efficiency (...); in general, developing countries still use energy inefficiently" she says, explaining her interest further. The energy saving potential in Indonesia has been estimated at 10-30%. The subject of energy efficiency in buildings and in industry and commerce are other topics on the TREE agenda.

The TREE knowledge transfer does not end with the seminars in Berlin. Within the project's context, a global network is being established, in which energy experts from 3 different continents are represented. There is also the opportunity to further participate in distance learning. In April/May, in-depth seminars will be offered again in Berlin. "This training is very useful for our broader knowledge and for improving our capability in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency", was the assessment of the seminar from another participant from Indonesia at the end of his stay in Berlin. Herman Huang, will be starting his own company in Indonesia in the near future, focusing on renewable energy projects: "A project like TREE increases the economic and social exchange between Indonesia and Germany."

Further information: www.tree-project.de; www.renac.de; contact me by e-mail

Imagine A Nuclear Reactor In Indonesia

I am interested to discuss more about the existence of nuclear reactor in Indonesia after recent UN economic sanction to Iran for its uranium enrichment programmes and also the clean energy / alternative energy campaigns in US,Brazil,Singapore and many other countries. I would not discuss more about Iran’s uranium enrichment programmes but more on Indonesia plan to build nuclear reactor for peaceful purpose.

Indonesia recently resurfaced the old plan to build a nuclear reactor for helping the acute electricity shortages in Indonesia ( so called peaceful purpose ). The most important agency for this project surely BATAN ( Badan Tenaga Atom Nasional = National Atomic Energy Council ) and other agencies and companies especially PLN ( Perusahaan Listrik Negara = State Electricity Company ). As far as I know Indonesia plan to build the first nuclear reactor nearby Muria,Central Java. As Indonesia never have any nuclear reactor before and does not have enough technology to do it then certain countries have been willing to help. To name a few such as Japan,South Korea,Rusia and etc.

There are several questions interesting and important to ask about this as follow :

1.Do Indonesia really need a nuclear reactor ?

I can say it as a yes and a no at the same time

Why I say yes :

1. Nuclear reactors have been built and used peacefully in many countries such as France,South Korea,Japan,USA. So Indonesia have the right to build and use it also.
2. Decreasing the overdependence on natural resource for producing electricity such as oil,gas,coal and etc.

Indonesia now is a net importer of oil though still producing and exporting enough natural gas. But in years to follow if Indonesia can not increase the oil production then certainly Indonesia condition can be worse. Why worse ?

It become worse because oil actually getting scarce everywhere in the world ( let see we still can get oil in 20-50 years more ) and it is actually a political commodity.

Why a political commodity ?

· It has been used before by Arab countries to impose oil and gas embargo in 1970 to Western countries.

· The oil reserves is not distributed all over the world but only on handful countries. To name a few are Saudi Arabia,Russia,Kuwait and etc.

So the politics of those countries actually influence the availability and the price of oil itself.

3. Solving the chronic electricity shortage in Indonesia

Indonesia has lack of electricity infrastructure despites decades of infrastructure development. And what a pity is that some regions in Indonesia still face rolling electricity black out due to the shortages. I know about this as Palembang,my hometown still faces this kind of problem till now. Certainly it is a real sad story not to have electricity especially at night when you want to read book,watch movies and etc.

4. The need to master the nuclear technology for future purpose

As a big country in the region Indonesia has a big need to master this technology although only for peaceful purpose. Imagine that a country as small as Israel which has capability of this. It is well regarded and envied by surrounding nations in Middle East.If Indonesia can have the mastery of this it can also help other countries in the region to build and operate it. It further can give additional revenues and geopolitical strength to Indonesia as big country in this region.

Why I say no at the same time :

1. Nuclear reactor has certain degree of safety hazards.

If a nuclear reactor not being managed and operated properly with the stringent discipline and control it can be really dangerous and hazardous.

Why is that ?

I think we should not forget on what happened in Chernobyl reactor,ex Sovyet Union before.

Chernobyl leaks had proved that lack of good management and control can cause such problem.Many innocent victims who happened to live nearby the reactors have to suffer till now.

I do not know exactly where in Muria the nuclear reactor will be built but as far as everybody know Java has very dense population even in villages and so called remote areas. You still can find many people ( millions even ) in small cities or regencies in Java. If something like Chernobyl happen then it can lead to catasthropic problems in Java,Indonesia.

2. There are still many alternatives for producing electricity

Several other sources which can be tapped such as wind,geothermal,biofuel and etc. Indonesia has big potential on most of this but still not being tapped properly.

In spite of nuclear reactor then Indonesia can build wind,geothermal or biofuel electricity plant first. It certainly has lesser degree of safety hazards and supposed to be cheaper than a nuclear reactor

2. What the Government of Indonesia need to do about this then ?

I could not give definite answers for this but certainly can suggest several things :

a. The research and cooperation on nuclear reactor still need to be continued.

Let see if the nuclear reactor can not be buit in 5 years time then we still might build it in 10-15 years time. So the research and cooperation will not be wasted.

b.Indonesian can prioritise first on other alternatives for solving electricity shortage such as building geothermal,gas electricity plants and etc. It actually diversify the energy sources,help to reduce electricity shortages and cheaper.

c.Proper surveys,polling and PR work need to be done for this plan

What I meant by this is as Indonesia is a democratic country then it should try to know and consult the people about what they think about the building of nuclear reactor.

PR work also need to be done. I do not mean it as a propaganda but mostly open and honest discussion and talks regarding this issue in TV,radio,direct meeting and etc.

It certainly can give better and clearer view on this. Hopefull then if most of the people can be convinced than this nuclear reactor can move forwards smoothly.

d.Proper surveying for future nuclear reactor location

What I meant by this is mitigating and lowering the chance of hazards in case something wrong happen in the nuclear reactor.

We already know what a wrong drilling practice can bring to the people like what happened in Lapindo Brantas,East Java. Certainly the effect of nuclear reactor can be more dangerous,fast and undetected.

So put the best interest on the people first before deciding further on the location.It perhaps building the nuclear reactor really far away from population so that in 30 years time it is still far away despite the development of cities and regions nearby.

Why at least 30 years ?

The development of nuclear reactor is an expensive investment and we can not expect that we build and then decommission it in short time. We still need to make sure we get the best of it ( achieving Return on Investment / ROI and might be some profit from it ).

That is certain thoughts which I have about this topic. Let see what happen in the future.Hopefully everything can run and go smoothly as everybody wishes.

Bekerja di Negara Lain

Saya tertarik menulis topik ini setelah mendapat sentilan di suatu forum online.

Artikel ini hanya berupaya menjelaskan sudut pandang dan posisi saya ( mungkin teman2x lain juga ) sebagai pekerja asing di negeri orang.Sama sekali tidak ada maksud untuk memonopoli ataupun memaksakan pendapat saya apalagi dalam era keterbukaan seperti ini.

Saya tertarik untuk memulai dengan komposisi pekerja2x Indonesia di luar negeri. Saya berusaha membuatnya lebih sederhana berdasarkan motif utama mereka bekerja di luar negeri sebagai berikut :

1. Kelompok yang sebenarnya tidak butuh sampai jauh2x kerja di luar negeri

Mereka bisa dikatakan orang2x elit dari Indonesia.Elit dari segi pendidikan,kesempatan dan juga material.Tanpa jauh2x bekerja di luar negeri mereka sudah punya pekerjaan dan penghidupan yang layak di Indonesia karena faktor keluarga mereka yang berada di Indonesia.

Jadi pilihan pribadi mereka untuk bekerja di luar negeri lebih pada faktor non ekonomis.

2. Kelompok yang butuh untuk bekerja di luar negeri

Mereka bisa dikatakan orang2x kelas menengah dan bawah di Indonesia.Mengingat lapangan pekerjaan yang memadai di Indonesia tidak melimpah maka terpaksa mereka kerja di luar negeri.

Jadi pilihan pribadi mereka untuk bekerja di luar negeri lebih pada faktor ekonomis. Contoh para TKI,TKW yang rela bekerja di Arab,Singapore,Hongkong dsb.

Saya lebih condong mengklasifikasikan diri saya pada kelompok kedua. Maklum karena saya bukan dari keluarga berada di Indonesia.

Dari pengelompokan di atas bisa kita lihat bahwa motif orang bekerja di luar negeri bervariasi dan tidak tunggal itu2x saja. Ini penting untuk diketahui untuk menghindari tendensi yang ujung2xnya generalisasi.

Selanjutnya mari kita telaah lagi beberapa komentar yang sering saya dengar tentang bekerja di luar negeri sebagai berikut :

1. Bekerja di luar negeri berarti anda mengikuti paham dan pandangan negeri tersebut ( lebih kasar lagi kena cuci otak oleh Negara yang bersangkutan ).

Saya beri contoh misalnya orang yang kerja di Singapura. Mungkin ada komentar bahwa orang yang bekerja di Singapura berarti mensukseskan program pemerintah sini,jadi pion dinasti pemerintahan sini dsb.

Singapura sendiri terlepas dari berbagai kekurangan yang ada telah menjadi sebuah cerita sukses perekonomian dan pembangunan di dunia.

Yang saya kagum dari Singapura adalah keberhasilan mereka untuk membujuk,mendapatkan kepercayaan dan menarik banyak investasi dari berbagai negara lain.

Singapura sendiri banyak dijadikan sebagai kantor regional Asia Tenggara ataupun Asia Pasifik oleh perusahaan2x tersebut dan bukannya Jakarta,Kuala Lumpur,Bangkok dan pilihan lain yang banyak tersedia.

Saya sendiri lebih pada pandangan yang praktis dan rasional bahwa pekerja asing di negeri orang tidak lebih hanya digit ekonomi bagi pemerintahan yang bersangkutan. Pekerja asing tidak boleh berharap mewakili pemerintah tempat dia bekerja dan berharap bisa jadi mesin propaganda pemerintahan tempat dia bekerja atau pemerintahan dari manapun dia berasal.

Purely sebagai pekerja dia berada di sana untuk bekerja,mencari nafkah dan syukur2x suatu saat bisa kembali ke negara asal atau tempat lainnya.

2. Bekerja di luar negeri berarti anda tidak nasionalis

Komentar seperti ini menurut saya sangat tidak bermutu. Nasionalisme adalah hal yang penting dan bagus tapi dalam kehidupan sehari-hari kita butuh makan,minum dsb. Nationalism without food,drink and home is just a rhetoric.

.Dengan kondisi perekonomian Indonesia yang tidak begitu baik maka lapangan kerja yang layak tidak banyak tersedia misalnya untuk lulusan perguruan tinggi,mereka yang punya special skill misal di bidang antariksa,mereka yang punya pengalaman kerja yang mumpuni dsb. Dengan bekerja di luar negeri setidaknya bisa memberikan sumbangsih berupa devisa bagi negara.

Menarik untuk dibahas kemudian adalah faktor pendorong orang bekerja di luar negeri. Ada beberapa alasan yang berhasil saya rangkum dari berbagai kalangan pekerja asing termasuk saya sendiri sebagai berikut :

1.Kesempatan yang tidak ada di Indonesia misal : riset teknologi tinggi yang tidak ada di Indonesia,tidak ada pekerjaan yang membutuhkan spesialisasi tertentu contoh eksplorasi ke bulan,reaktor nuklir dsb.

2.Meraih penghasilan lebih dari yang bisa didapat di Indonesia dengan harapan bisa dijadikan modal hidup layak atau modal bisnis di Indonesia

Bukan rahasia lagi kalau bekerja di luar negeri menjanjikan penghasilan yang jauh lebih bagus dibandingkan bekerja di Indonesia. Banyak juga orang yang pulang dari kerja beberapa tahun di luar negeri untuk kemudian membuka usaha sendiri di Indonesia.

3.Mendapatkan pengalaman dan wawasan yang lebih luas tentang negara lain

Salah satu cara terbaik untuk mendapatkan pengalaman dan wawasan yang lebih luas tentang negara lain adalah dengan datang dan tinggal langsung di negara tersebut. Memang ada Google, TV kabel dan berbagai ragam teknologi lainnya yang bisa membuat tempat lain seolah2x begitu nyata dan jelas. Namun hanya segitu saja yang dapat kita ketahui dari teknologi tersebut.Tidak ada perspektif lain dan aspek real time yang bisa kita rasakan begitu kita langsung datang dan tinggal di negara tersebut

4.Efek globalisasi

Efek globalisasi memberikan banyak kesempatan dan pilihan bagi orang yang mempunyai kemampuan dan kemauan. Mereka bisa memilih pekerjaan terbaik yang mereka mau dan tempat yang baik menurut mereka. Jadi ini lebih pada pilihan pribadi. Dunia terbuka seolah2x menjadi desa global tanpa batasan jelas dalam hal bekerja. Pekerja2xnya sendiri lazim disebut sebagai global talents.

5.Memperdalam pengetahuan bahasa asing seperti Inggris,Mandarin dsb.

Pemakaian bahasa asing di Indonesia masih terbatas selama ini. Dengan bekerja di luar negeri maka kita bisa langsung memakai dan mendengar bahasa Inggris,Mandarin dsb sehari-hari.

Bahasa Inggris sudah merupakan bahasa paling banyak digunakan dan populer untuk banyak bidang seperti pendidikan,bisnis bahkan diplomasi internasional.

Bahasa Mandarin sendiri mempunyai cukup banyak pemakai ( native speaker ) dan mengingat potensi China menjadi superpower di masa yang akan datang setara dengan Amerika Serikat.

6. Faktor-faktor lainnya

Contohnya adalah aspek politik ( orang2x yang anti/lawan politik Orde Lama dan Orde Baru di Indonesia ) dan banyak faktor lainnya yang tidak bisa saya utarakan satu per satu.

Demikian sedikit ulasan yang sederhana dan lugas dari saya. Semoga berguna.

Singapore Scholarships Info

I just finished my master programme from NUS Singapore under ASEAN scholarship programme. And I think it is always good to share scholarships information and some tips to get the scholarships successfully especially for prospective postgraduate students from Indonesia and other ASEAN countries.

Singapore is a small country located at the southern tips of Malay peninsula.It is nearby Malaysia and Indonesia. It is a city state of 700 km sq which managed to transform itself from 3^rd world country into 1^st world country in term of prosperity for just 30 years. The great achievement of Singapore can be traced to many fields such as health,education,Singapore Airlines and etc.

Education in Singapore is relatively more advanced compared to neighbour ASEAN countries. It is largely due to consistent and large government support and commitment to it for developing the only resource that Singapore has which is human resource.

Several universities in Singapore have good standing and recognition from the world which proved from certain surveys each year. NUS,NTU and SMU are the well recognized and wellknown universities so far from here.The graduates from this universities can be accepted easily for further education in US or European countries.

NUS Singapore ( www.nus.edu.sg ) is the oldest university in Singapore which deemed to be the best one in Singapore and previously known as University of Singapore.It is located in Kent Ridge area,West side of Singapore. It is a government endowed university ( same like state university in Indonesia ) and have many faculties ( Engineering,Medicine,Law,Business and etc. )

NTU Singapore ( www.ntu.edu.sg ) is a government endowed university also which previously known as Nanyang University. It is located in Boon Lay area,the West end of Singapore.It focuses more on engineering,science and teacher education.

SMU Singapore ( www.smu.edu.sg ) is another government endowed university and the newest one among all. It is located in city centre nearby Bugis and City Hall.It focuses more on finance,management and economics study.

There are several other universities in Singapore such as UniSIM,UNSW and etc.

They are private and brand new universities in Singapore.

For prospective students who try to get scholarships can access the following link :

1. http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/prospective/graduate/researchscholarship.htm

Link di atas berisi informasi beasiswa mahasiswa riset untuk mendapatkan gelar MEng dan PhD di NUS.

Above link contains information about scholarships for research students pursuing MEng and PhD titles in NUS.

2. http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/sfau/pg.htm

Link di atas berisi list beasiswa untuk mahasiswa pascasarjana baik itu yang dengan riset maupun dengan mengikuti kelas.

Above link contains scholarships list for postgraduate students both by research or by coursework.

3. http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/prospective/graduate/gsa.htm

Link di atas berisi beasiswa untuk mahasiswa coursework dari negara2x ASEAN.

Above link contains scholarship information for coursework students specially from ASEAN countries.

4. http://www.ntu.edu.sg/publicportal/prospective+students/scholarships/default.htm

Link di atas berisi list beasiswa2x untuk studi di NTU ( Nanyang Technological University ).

Above link contains scholarships list for studying in NTU.

For SMU I do not have definite information about it. For prospective students can search directly from its website : www.smu.edu.sg.

After basic information about universities here and links to get more information regarding the scholarships then I would like to share several tips which I did before to get the postgraduate scholarship here.

Several tips which may be useful such as :

1.Get relevant work experiences for at least 2 years.

It can be really useful to convince them ( the universities ). The name of companies where we work is important also as it actually can give a quick glance of how good the prospective scholarship holders.

2. Get the needed TOEFL,GMAT and GRE.

TOEFL is necessary if you studied previously with medium other than English and from non English speaking countries.

Students from Indonesia need to get the latest TOEFL.
GMAT is necessary for Business students.

GRE is necessary for Engineering and Science students .Mostly the universities in USA and Western Europe ask it more often than in Singapore.

3. Write an honest,detail and clear objective for pursuing postgraduate education by scholarship

To get ASEAN scholarship we are required to write an objective letter.

It is a kind of description why we want to pursue postgraduate here by scholarship and further plan upon graduation ( let see in 5 years time upon graduation ).

I wrote a honest,brief but clear letter explaining my reasons for further education and my career goal afterwards. Some people might try to bullshit by writing sweet but dishonest letter but it will not effect or guarantee they can get the scholarship as the people who read and select us are very experience and already face this kind of letters each year.

4.Make sure you have at least 3-12 months in advance prior your planned education time.

3-12 months needed for you to prepare the required letters,time for the university to process and decide your entry and whether to give scholarship or not and etc.

That is all some information which I can share about scholarships in Singapore universities. Hopefully prospective students can read and make the use of it.And hopefully you can get it !!

Rank of Universities by Webometrics

There are several international institutions which conduct research on universities’ profiles in the world and do the yearly rank after that. Shanghai Jiao Tong University ( Shanghai,China ), Times Higher Education Supplement ( THES ) which is a part of The Times,a newspaper from United Kingdom and the new one,Webometrics affiliated to Spanish Research Council.

Webometrics ( www.webometrics.info ) classify the rank mainly based on the electronics publication ( e-publication ) which contained in each university’s website. There are further 4 indicators for it such as

1. Size : number of website pages which contain e-publication
2. Visibility : number of other pages which referred or put link onto the original website
3. Rich File : the relevance of the electronic sources for the academic and publication of the university
4. Scholar : number of qualified publication and citation in the university website.

Later on it process the data and then put rank for total 3000 universities worldwide. The rank come out each January and July each year since 2004.

Though the ranking from each international institution can be not believed 100% as it is merely result of collected statistics which we know can be played around and the different criterions set by the international institutions and the universities being researched but surely we still can use it for quick glance and overview on how competitive universities which we belong to or our home country universities

Let see the list of top 100 universities in Asia as follow :

1. National University of Singapore ( Singapore )

2. National Taiwan University ( Taiwan )

3. Keio University ( Japan )

4. University of Tokyo ( Japan )

5. Beijing University ( China )

6. Chinese University of Hongkong ( Hongkong )

7. University of Hongkong ( Hongkong )

8. Kyoto University ( Japan )

9. National Chiao Tung University ( Taiwan 0

10.Tsinghua University China ( China )
……..

73. Bandung Institute of Technology ( ITB,Indonesia )

100.Gadjah Mada University ( UGM,Indonesia )

First I am personally happy with this rank as the universities where I studied for my bachelor degree ( UGM,Indonesia ) and my master degree ( NUS,Singapore ) are in the top 100 Universities in Asia. NUS is no.1 and UGM is no.100.

I am also happy because two Indonesian top universities ( ITB and UGM ) manage to share the spot in top 100 universities in Asia which is a big push and pride for Indonesia which this several years facing so many problems and degradations. Despites lack of fund ( compared with other universities ) ITB and UGM still managed also to push higher quality and bigger presence in international spot ( aimed in Asia first ).

If we see the above top 10 also we can see that the spots mostly being taken by universities from East Asia ( Japan,China,Taiwan,Hongkong ). The strength of universities in this area long has been recognized even in other type of ranks from THES and Shanghai Jiao Tong. Is it the high quality education which propel and help the economics growth and industrialization for years ? Or is it because hard work ethics ( Confucian work ethics ) complemented together with big support from local government ? Or simply because the people from East Asia are smarter ? I can not give a definite answer for this.

Just to close this small article that I personally hope more Indonesian universities able to surface into top spot in the Asia first before aimed for the top world position.If this year only 2 universities then probably next year can be 3-4 universities in top 100 Asia Universities. I believe that if more Indonesian Universities can surface and get better recognition from the world then it can help the alumni finding global and best jobs,help Indonesia also with higher quality graduates and education and etc. Hopefully it can come true soon.