I am nothing compared to brilliant economists out there, but I would like to share my perspectives as a young person who studies business, and of course, the economy. This is the paper I wrote for one of my finals in February 2010 (things have changed, yeah). Happy reading, friends!

Chairul Tanjung, Anthony Salim, James Riady, along with other executives and senior government officials of Indonesia, clustered themselves into an organisation that has been planning for a project called “Visi Indonesia 2030” or “Indonesia’s 2030 Vision” (Davies, 2008). It endeavours to reach a goal of making Indonesia one of the globe’s five leading economies in two decades, as well as having 30 business firms in the Global Fortune 500 (Davies, 2008). The plan seems attainable by linking it to some pleasant facts about Indonesia. For example, a number of US analysts stated that the BRIC economies, which consist of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, must now include Indonesia (Ichsan, 2009). At the same time, a securities house has labeled Indonesia as one of the three Asia’s economic barricades, alongside with China and India (Ichsan, 2009). Indonesia is also included in the Next Eleven (N-11), 11 countries grouped by the Goldman Sachs according to its high potential in becoming the world’s most significant economies in this century (O’Neill et al., 2005). Nevertheless, we still cannot ignore the fact that Indonesia was the country that suffered the most when Asia had to go through the regional financial crisis over a decade ago. In that period, the value of Rupiah was lessened by 35 percent in 24 hours. The exchange rate of US Dollars elated from around IDR 3,000 to 16,800 in 1998. According the World Bank’s data, the economy shriveled by 13% due to the fall of Suharto’s regime. Both the regional crisis and the political instability became the reasons why investors deserted the country. Hence, there are still plenty of things that ought to be done to realise the plan, other than the ambiguous “hard work and collaboration by all of Indonesia’s people”, which became Tanjung’s answer when he was asked on how to realise the ambitious “Visi Indonesia 2030”. It is not exaggerated at all to say that Indonesia already has all of the potentials to emerge into a regional economic powerhouse, but at the same time, it still has millions of people living below the $1.50 poverty line everyday. Where did all the money go? What has all of the profit of selling extracted natural resources turned into? One of the most unfortunate facts of Indonesia is that it is notorious for the corruption, which exists in almost any foundation. Corruption has soaked into both Indonesia’s culture and system, which makes it more or less related to the weak bureaucracy system. So, in order to realise its goal on becoming Asia’s economic powerhouse in 2030, Indonesia should optimise its potentials by eradicating corruption and conducting bureaucracy reform.

As we all have known, Indonesia is rich in both natural and human resources. It also has more than 230 million people as citizens of the country, making it as one of the five most-populated countries in the world. In 2009, Indonesia’s stock exchange (ISE) index once ascended by 95 percent (Ichsan, 2009). The figure has turned it into the bourse that has performed best in Asia, yet also becomes the second-best in the world. By having these marvelous facts, Indonesia must have attracted foreign investors to start investing in the archipelago again, promising more and more profit with a relatively lower minimum wage for local labours than the ones other countries have.

In addition, it has a lot of factors that is going to promise bigger things for investors. Indonesia has gradually gained political stability, which is also one of the most important things to be considered by foreign investors, after it became a fully democratic country through having the general elections in 1999. The result of the last presidential elections, resulting in the re-election of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is now teaming up with Boediono, has also played an important role in bringing former investors back to Indonesia and keeping the ones who are already here to stay. In his past five-year term, President Yudhoyono has ingeniously created positive changes to support investors, including his anti-corruption programs as well as tax reforms. It can be interfered that investors believe these changes would continue to the next level, as he was being re-elected. Moreover, the fact that a former governor of Bank Indonesia became the vice president of Indonesia, also implicitly promises something good to business executives, because he is going to be coordinating the next economic lineup.

If we see a little further to the past five-year term of presidency, Indonesia has reached an undeniably good position in the global economy. Based on the third-quarter’s “2008 Monetary Policy Report of Indonesia”, while other countries are suffering due to the global financial crisis, Indonesia’s economy recorded a positive growth because domestic consumption is one of Indonesia’s main economic pillars, dominating the whole income by 60 percent. In 2008, Indonesia had a safe and sound balance sheet consists of $52 billion of assets, as well as having its government debt as much as only one-third of its GDP, making it the lowest compared to other countries in Southeast Asia (Wirjawan, 2008). It continued to the first semester in 2009, where Indonesia’s GDP growth was the third highest amongst the G-20 countries at the rate of 4.2 percent (Ichsan, 2009).

Sadly, only by living a normal life in Indonesia, we can all agree that Indonesia’s growth is not evenly balanced. While there are hundred thousands of people like Chairul Tanjung, Anthony Salim, and James Riady living in big cities, there are millions of people who still live below the poverty line in villages and remote areas, or even in the capital itself. This reality can probably the biggest barrier to achieve the “Indonesia’s 2030 Vision” plan.

Particularly, the endemic corruption and ineffectual system are two of the biggest problems that are going to be faced in realising the plan, which includes rising per capita income to $18,000. According to the World Bank’s data, Indonesia’s per capita income in 2008 was $2,254, which is still inevitably very far from the target. Analysts think that real growth will have to be 8.5 percent in average to actualise the plan. On the other hand, Fauzi Ichsan, an economist who now serves at the Standard Chartered Bank as its Senior Vice President, believes that Indonesia can probably be in the G-7 in 2045, 15 years later than the deadline of the plan, by only growing with the average annual rate seen in the past 10 years. We can positively say that the goal should be able to be reached in two decades if we can eradicate corruption and conduct bureaucracy reform.

In Indonesia, corruption used to be seen as a habit and part of a tradition, instead of a crime. In 32 years, ruled by the military regime of Suharto, corruption has become something that is very common to be done. In this country, gaining promotions, getting good grades, to releasing yourself from being captured by the police can all be done only by giving money. President Yudhoyono realised that corruption is the root of every economic and social welfare problem in Indonesia. For this reason, he has put anti-corruption drive on his top priorities since the beginning of his presidency. A decade ago, the Law 31 on Anti-Corruption Acts was legalised, covering not only those who bribe public officials, but also people who benefit themselves or others resulting in loss of the economy of the state, with death penalty as its top punishment (Juwana, 2008). In 2003, the government established the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) that has showed great achievements in capturing a large number of white-collar crime villains. Eradicating corruption does not only mean to prove this country’s integrity nor to put the laws back on its foundation, but it also means to catalyse positive change to investment, business, and the economy in general. Stamping corruption out will benefit businesses by pressing down the high-cost economy in Indonesia. For decades, it has been a common knowledge that in the country, we have to concede an amount of money to maintain relationships with other professionals or government officials. It also has to be done when we would like to obtain documents like business permits, construction permits, or even driving licenses. These facts are contrary to the theory that to create a conducive investment environment, a strong and credible legal system is very much needed. As indicated by the 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index released by Transparency International, Indonesia ranked on number 126. It is on a par with Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guyana, Honduras, Libya, Mozambique, and Uganda, making it as the 54th most corrupt country in the world. If by being as corrupt as that can make Indonesia one of the 20 world’s biggest economies, imagine what can be achieved if its people can eradicate corruption until its core. For these reasons, the government should empower KPK more, as it is now being juggled upside down by other institutions, including the media.

Eradicating corruption is closely related with reforming the bureaucracy system. As it has been stated above, a credible legal system is needed to build the economy through investments by both local and foreign investors. Based on an interview conducted by Reuters in 2007, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the government aimed to provide “good regulation for investors” (Davies, 2008). It leaves a big question mark: what has been done by the government in order to realise the statement? A good example has been set by the city of Sragen, where its mayor, Untung Wiyono, established an innovation called One Stop Service Center to reform bureaucracy. In Sragen, getting an ID only takes two minutes of our time, whilst it takes at least three days other cities. It only takes 15 days to get a construction permit and 7 days to get a working permit. The success of One Stop Service Center has raised investment by Rp634 million Rupiahs from 2002 to 2004, resulting in the creation of new 3,781 jobs for the society (Herdjoko, 2008). Other cities, or even the central government itself, should replicate the passion of Sragen in creating a new system of bureaucracy. The knotty bureaucracy in Indonesia seems to be slowing down the economy in becoming the regional economic powerhouse. It takes months to get a working permit, an investment permit, and even businesspeople still need to get thousands of other permits. Despite all the promises that have been given by Indonesia to the world, its bureaucracy is still a nightmare for investors. Establishing One Stop Service Centers can be a solution. Although it is going to take weeks or months to get those required permits, at least investors only have to come to one place to take care of everything they need. It can as well gradually eliminate corruption, since having a One Stop Service needs less workers. It can be started by giving disciplinary sanctions to workers who work inefficiently, or even diminish them from the list of employees if the amount of employees exceeds the workload. Fortunately, it has been done in a few government institutions. Just like Wiyono, the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani knows that bureaucracy reform is one of the most important things that have to be done in order to put Indonesia’s economy on a better position. Investigation within the Ministry of Finance conducted by the end of last year brought sanctions to more than 1,950 employees and dishonourably discharged more than 150 employees (Pasandaran, 2009).

As have been stated by both local and foreign economists, Indonesia is an emerging economic powerhouse that has whatever it takes to become bigger as time goes by. This country has already been included as one of the world’s 20 leading economies, and it is very likely to rank higher in the upcoming years with all of its potentials. However, the “Indonesia’s 2030 Vision” and its other ambitious goals would never be achieved if the powerless legal system is not being exterminated. In order to develop into Asia’s economic powerhouse in two decades, Indonesia needs to eliminate corruption and restructure the bureaucracy scheme. If Indonesia can be included in the G-20, BRIICS, and N-11 in only one decade after being labeled as “the sick man of Asia”, we can all be pretty optimistic about its future if it struggles for more and more development and growth.

References

• Country Brief of Indonesia. (2009). Retrieved February 3, 2010 from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/EASTASIAPACIFICEXT/INDONESIAEXTN.
• Di Sragen buat KTP selesai dua menit. (2006, May 10). Gatra. Retrieved January 31, 2010 from http://www.gatra.com/2006-05-10/artikel.php?id=94381.
• Directorate of Economic Research and Monetary Policy. (2008). Monetary Policy Report Quarter III-2008. Jakarta, Bank Indonesia: Author. Retrieved February 3, 2010 from http://www.bi.go.id/web/en/Publikasi/Kebijakan+Moneter/Laporan+Kebijakan+Moneter/.
• Herdjoko, S. U. (2008, January 7). Bupati Sragen Untung Wiyono: Bila cerai didenda tanam 25 pohon. Sinar Harapan. Retrieved January 31, 2010 from http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/berita/0801/07/hib07.html.
• Ichsan, F. (2009, September 11). Indonesia: Asia’s emerging powerhouse. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved January 11, 2010 from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/11/indonesia-asia039s-emerging-powerhouse.
• Juwana, H. (2008). Fighting corruption for the good of business. Globe Asia, 2(12). 124.
• O’Neill, J., Wilson, D., Purushothaman, R., & Stupnytska, A. (2005). How solid are the BRICs. Global Economics Paper, 1(134). 7.
• Pasandaran, C. (2009, November 21). Sri Mulyani aims for overhaul of Indonesia’s bureaucracy. Jakarta Globe. Retrieved January 31, 2010 from http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/sri-mulyani-aims-for-overhaul-of-indonesias-bureaucracy/342938.
• Wirjawan, G. (2008). Surviving the credit tsunami. Globe Asia, 2(12). 20-22.

Attached is the data and analysis I presented in the Global Changemakers at the London Summit 2009 in April 2009, where youth representatives from G-20 countries met and discussed possible recommendations for the G-2o communique. We produced our own communique and handed it to David Milliband, who back then was the Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, before the real communique was produced.

                          

Hi – just a quick post, some people have been wondering on how to apply to study abroad. I am not the right person to ask because I am studying in Jakarta myself, but I found a very interesting (and useful) website that might be able to help you to conduct your research if you plan to study abroad. Please go to HotCourses, www.hotcourses.co.id, and help yourself! For more information, you can contact my friend Nooraini Indrana (nooraini.indrana@hotcourses.com), she works at HotCourses in London. Good luck for your studies!

                          

Ketika saya dan teman-teman merancang konsep rangkaian kegiatan Road to Indonesian Youth Conference, sering banget terpikirkan oleh kami mengenai budaya “pembajakan” yang ada di Indonesia, dan mungkin di seluruh dunia. Berkat fasilitas download yang tersedia di berbagai situs hosting, kadang-kadang kita sebagai pengguna internet tidak sadar bahwa downloading secara ilegal, atau tanpa konsen dari orang yang karyanya kita unduh, sama saja dengan pembajakan. Saya seringkali berharap, ada fasilitas yang memungkinkan kita mengunduh banyak lagu, termasuk lagu Indonesia, secara legal. Di luar negeri, ada banyak vendor yang menyediakan fasilitas download secara legal. Sayangnya, tentu saja mereka tidak memiliki database lagu-lagu Indonesia untuk diunduh. Ingin sekali rasanya membuat kampanye “Stop Pembajakan”, terutama yang berhubungan dengan pengunduhan lagu secara ilegal melalui internet.

Minggu lalu, saya mendengar tentang Nokia X6 dan berkesempatan untuk mencobanya. Fitur yang langsung menarik perhatian saya adalah Nokia Comes With Music—yang langsung menjawab pertanyaan saya akan apa arti hashtag #comeswithmusic yang ada di Twitter. Ternyata, Nokia merayakan Hari Musik Nasional dengan memperkenalkan layanan ini.

Dengan ponsel Nokia yang dilengkapi oleh layanan Comes With Music (selain X6, nanti akan ada seri-seri lain yang dilengkapi dengan layanan ini), kita bisa mengunduh lagu—sebanyak… tidak terbatas!—melalui database lagu Nokia yang memiliki lebih dari 3 juta lagu selama 12 bulan. GRATIS! Download-nya nggak harus pakai ponsel, tapi bisa juga dengan PC yang terhubung dengan ponsel tersebut. Jadi, lagu yang diunduh nggak dibatasi dengan kapasitas memori ponsel kita. Nokia juga punya Ovi Player, software yang bisa digunakan untuk download lagu, mengatur lagu, transfer musik, dan lain-lain.
Di database Musik Ovi, ternyata ada koleksi lagu Indonesia yang relatif lengkap. Mulai dari lagu-lagunya Sherina, sampai lagu-lagu almarhum Chrisye. Selain itu, juga ada lagu-lagu internasional, bahkan yang tidak terlalu “terkenal” di Indonesia, seperti band OK Go dan The Script.

Semoga inovasi Nokia ini bisa membuat kita, pemuda Indonesia, bisa mulai menikmati ribuan lagu secara legal, bukannya main unduh di internet, copy dari hard disk teman, maupun rip dari CD milik teman. Sudah saatnya pemuda Indonesia lebih menghargai Hak Kekayaan Intelektual dan copyright—supaya musik Indonesia bisa lebih maju lagi. Amin!

Well, any youth can dream… and any youth can achieve it :)

                          

Yes, it’s been a long time.

@VanyaViranda once asked me on Twitter about internships and how to become an intern in a magazine. I hope that I can share my experience with everyone.

Becoming an intern may means a lot of things, it depends on what you do, and how your company ask you to do it. I have tried a number of different kind of internships. From being a volunteer, flexible part-timer, and a full-time staff.

For your consideration, I’ve been a freelance writer for several magazines, including Gogirl!, Hai, and kaWanku. I also contributed for 21-Degrees for several months and sometimes write for JakartaConcerts.com. I contributed in one of Provoke!’s Student Editions and I have authored two books. All of them gave insightful, different experiences for me.

The real work? I worked for the marketing division of Millions Pictures for 6 months. They are the ones who made Queen Bee movie. I also worked as an intern for (almost) one month in Business Relations Division, British Council Indonesia.

If you want to be a freelance writer, it is actually very easy. You only need to write your own piece about anything you like, the things you are passionate about – like music or films or fictional stories, and then send it to a magazine that you think would publish your work. Before we send our work, we have to learn the characteristic of our target magazine. For example, if you want to write about life lessons in a girl’s point of view, you can not send it directly to a magazine. You have to learn the characteristic of each magazine. In my opinion, Gogirl! is more into trends and fashion, CosmoGIRL! is more into self-esteem campaigns, and kaWanku is more ‘think globally, act locally’ campaigns. Now, see the difference? The next thing you ought to do, is only to look around the magazine, find the office’s address (or e-mail!), and send your work. That easy. Wait until you get a call about your work. If not, go write another piece, try to write things that are more appropriate to be placed in that magazine.

Being a contributor is another thing. I got the chance to write for 21-Degrees and JakartaConcerts.com because I tried to maintain my relationship with them. I first met 21-Degrees’ Chief Editor when he went to my school and wanted to featured my school’s achievements. I shook hands with him and tried to get the opportunity to write in his magazine, and I succeeded. You guys should do the same. If one day you meet Anita Moran or Widi Mulia, ask them, “How can I write in your magazine? Because I want to, and I know I can.” It might be successful. If not, they won’t remember your name anyway, don’t be embarrassed. About JakartaConcerts.com, I knew Ryan Novianto & Dimas Wisnuwardono from my friend, Suryo. We chatted for quite some time and I decided to help them by writing for JakartaConcerts.com. I don’t get paid, even till now. But I do it with my heart, to help my friends, not for money. It’s all worth it. God will pay you back, no worries.

In Million Pictures, I was offered the job because they knew that I blog! So, I think you guys should start blogging seriously. Some people says that it’s a waste of time but I don’t think so. In British Council, I applied for the internship slot there. I chose two fields: Business Relations and Creativity. But, the BR team ’stole’ me from Creativity. Anyone can apply for the internship position by logging into their website.

I don’t know what else to write but I am going to write a few things… I think you should do if you want to be an intern, especially in media our journalistic field:

1. Research! That’s the first thing I’d like to advise. Write everything you need to know, and ask the things that you haven’t known yet. I have met tons of journalist who ask ‘What do you do?’ and ‘What is your cause?’ and ‘Where do you go to school?’. Didn’t they do any kind of research before? Come on, this world has Google.
2. You have to be able to write things from different point of views. Not from your point of view, but from your company’s point of view. This is very important. You don’t want people to read your piece as if it’s your diary, right?
3. Make sure that you write the ‘right’ thing. Ask your resources if needed. It pisses me off when anyone writes incorrect details about me, especially when they have interviewed me.
4. Don’t think about money. Interns who are paid Rp100.000,-/day… are in heaven already. There are people who pay us Rp25.000,- or Rp50.000,- a day, it depends on what you do, and of course, how you do it. Some of them doesn’t even give anything to us, and be happy with it. The most valuable thing you get from becoming an intern is the experience.
5. Take the bus. Bring your own lunch. Don’t even think about taking a cab or buying your lunch in the canteen. Waste of money. Save it for something, like, maybe, BlackBerry or MacBook :D
6. Be friendly to anyone. One of the main aim of becoming an intern is to get the connections, expand your network. Talk to these people you are working with, with enough respect and enough friendliness. They are eager to help interns like you though they seem ’scary’ at first. Talk about what you do (and say it excitingly and interestingly), and give them a clue that you need their help. That’s what I did in British Council. I asked these people’s help for IYC!
7. Critical thinking is needed! Let them know what you think about what they do, give feedback, they really appreciate it. It’s time for our voice to be heard, right?
8. Never give up. I have sent more than 100 applications in my life, to different institutions: to apply for internships, competitions, ask for sponsorships, ask for support. Some of them got back to me, the rest didn’t, and no hurt feelings. They are busy, just like us.
9. Stop thinking that you can’t do something. YOU CAN. If you try. I hate listening to people say that “I cannot do this and that”. All you have to do is sit in front of your laptop and type something in Google. That’s how I got some things. That’s how I knew that British Council calls for interns. That’s how I found out that there’s is such thing like JakartaConcerts.com. If you only wait for people to tell you to do things, you won’t achieve something big.

Hmmm… Again, I don’t know what else, but let me know if you want to ask anything, I’d be glad to help :) I hope what I’ve written will give insightful knowledge for you, especially about internships in journalism.

                          

Yes, the new theme lasted for a very short amount of time. I’m not a fan of pink actually, but I thought it might bring a new ambiance to my blog. Apparently, there are a lot of people who doesn’t like it and I think a dark theme (with my favourite colour, blue!) is waaay better for now. Did you know that a dark colour can save the energy?

A search engine tool, Blackle, has saved 1,2 Megawatt hours! Blackle is a black version of Google. It was created by Heap Media and is powered by Google Custom Search. According to this, “A given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.“ That’s why I set my homepage to Blackle, and changed my theme back to black. Small steps do matter, don’t they?

Anyway, Year 12 students are having a couple of exams to go. Hope we all would do well. I don’t really care about exams right now. Days have been very difficult to me. Everything from different directions are moving towards me. Pushing me. Not that I can’t accept it, but I just need a break. People acts as if they understand me, but they just don’t. Because things like these don’t happen in everyone’s life.

Lucky me that God is testing my strength, and I hope that what He does will make me strong gradually. Now you know that my life is not perfect. God is just. Believe me, people whom you think is perfect or ‘only’ very lucky… they are not. So, don’t be envious. Just be happy with your life, enjoy it. Don’t ever wish you were someone else.

And to recharge my energy, if I could do anything I want to do, I would say I need:

1. A sleepover with my girlfriends.

2. A night of Thirteen* with neighbours

Last but not least,

3. A great dinner with cousins

What do you do to recharge your energy? :))

PS: A little note for you, who addresses yourself as a me.

“Anger is just a cowardly extension of sadness. It’s a lot easier to be angry at someone than it is to tell them you’re hurt.”- Tom Gates

*) Thirteen in Indonesian means CAPSA! :B

                          

Last month, on February 18, I attended Amnesty International Indonesian Influencer Webinar. It was the first time for me to attend such thing, so I was nervous and excited at the same time. I didn’t understand at first, but it was a wonderful experience. There were 5 bloggers from Indonesia: Enda Nasution, Marisa Duma, M. Ilman Akbar, Anita Carmencita, and me. There were also some people from Online Communities division of Amnesty International: James Skinner, Ryan Visser, Jai Kotecha, Jennifer Bilec-Sullivan, Abigail O’hanlon and Mirinda Boon-Kuo.

On 2001, President Bush issues a military order on the “Detention, Treatment and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens, in the War Against Terrorism”, purporting to authorize the Pentagon to hold non US-citizens in indefinite custody without charge. Next, the first detainees are transferred to Guantanamo from Afghanistan and are held in wire mesh cages in an area known as “Camp X-Ray”. Starting on 2005, Amnesty International called for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, followed by other organizations and former presidents including Carter and Clinton. Amnesty International had also published the names of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret CIA custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. So, on 2008, Amnesty International released the Counter Terror with Justice: A checklist for the next US President.

Most Indonesians supported Barack Obama. Some of them did because they believed “he can”, while the rest were just joining the euphoria because Obama lived in Indonesia when he was a kid. Amnesty International also thinks that Obama can do better things than what the former president did. Change is possible, including on certain fields like human rights.

You can read the checklist by clicking here. If you want me to shorten the .pdf file, the checklist from Amnesty includes: “Close Guantanamo and illegal detention, eradicate torture, end impunity.” Is it difficult to be achieved? Obama still has 56 days to do this. Amnesty (and I) hope you can also participate on this movement, well… if you support human rights and think that we should counter terror with justice instead of torture.  Please sign the petition, stating that, “You can counter terror with justice. We are counting on you.” Until today, 19716 people have signed the petition. I am signing it. Are you willing to do so? If it’s a nod, you can sign the petition here.

http://obama100days.amnesty.org/petition.html

Can you do it? Let me know what you think! If you sign, or even if you don’t, tell me… :-) Just like what Pure Saturday said, “Time for a change…”

                          

is a song from L’Alphalpha, a four-piece band full of my buddies. You can listen to it here. But, I’m not going to talk about music, though.

Bali, Juli 2008. I went snorkeling!

A few days before I traveled to the UK, I arranged a meeting with Tante Rini Sucahyo, from Conservation International Indonesia. I first met her in a meeting in USAID’s office. Fitrian Ardiansyah, WWF Indonesia’s program director of climate change, invited me to come along with him to join the meeting. I wasn’t aware that she’s actually my friend’s mum because she seemed so young! She’s the mother of the loveliest experimental photographer I ever befriended with, Cassandra Niki (nicknamed Casseybunn :D).

We talked much about marine conservation, well that’s her main concern in environmental issues. That’s what I am going to share with you through this entry.

Images are courtesy of © Jez O’hare. Check his amazing works here.

I mean, did you know that coral reefs are animals instead of an underwater plant? And, did you know that Indonesia has the biggest marine biodiversity in the world? I didn’t.

There are three things that support the underwater life:

1. Mangrove (hutan bakau)
2. Seagrass bed (padang lamun)
3. Coral reef (terumbu karang)

Mangrove and seagrass bed are often called “the nursery”. This is where baby fishes and turtles grow up until they can swim to the deeper part of the ocean. Most of Indonesian people only knew about mangrove and coral reef without knowing about seagrass bed, which is also very important. Without seagrass bed, baby fishes and turtles often gotten caught by predators before they can reach their home :(

Besides, turtles are also the main problem in Indonesia. It is still used as a part in religious rituals (especially in Bali island) and being consumed as food. It’s very ironic, because turtles are labeled using the term “endangered species” and so vulnerable. They need 5 years to grow up… well, if they are not eaten by the humans yet.

Conservation International has been doing a lot of things to conserve marine life in Indonesia. That includes workshop and education, mangrove reforestation (around Bali, Muara Karang and Flores), games for kids and clean up the sea with college students (especially IPB, they have diving clubs).

These are some facts to trigger your awareness:

• 1356 species of reef fishes are found in Bird’s Head Seascape
• 1223 species of reef fishes are found in Raja Ampat
• There are 15 species of reef fishes that are only found in Bird’s Head Seascape
• 600 species of coral reefs are found in Bird’s Head Seascape
• 75% of all species of coral reefs in the world are found in Bird’s Head Seascape. It is 10 times of the coral reefs species found around The Caribbean Islands!
• On the 4.500 species of reef fishes existing in the oceans worldwide, around 3.500 of them have been identified in Indonesia!

So, have you planned to do something? A snorkeling day, maybe? Or Google about seagrass bed? Well, you choose. Let me know what you think!

                          

Read J. D. Salinger – The Catcher in The Rye
Listen Radiohead – 15 Steps
Watch Into The Wild

For the ones who have been keeping an eye on the life of Alanda in the past two, three years, either through the live version or through the media (blog, magazine, newspaper, etc), maybe have been also aware with something called The Cure For Tomorrow. About TCFT, you can read it on http://thecurefortomorrow.wordpress.com. There were a lot of people who asked how to participate, what are the activities? You can read them all in our site.

One year ago, TCFT went through an internal problem, and finally, I took a big decision, yet difficult. TCFT has been temporarily “non-activated”. Although there were a lot of registered members with us, approximately 100 people, the ones who are really doing something in the community were too few, about 15-20 people. Active, referring to their presence in our meetings and events, their routine donation payment, and more. The other 80? Maybe they were more like, just registered. So they could write The Cure For Tomorrow in their profile page and be proud of it. I’ve never thought about it as a problem, because for me, the most important thing was participation, no matter how little it is. The essence of TCFT’s presence is to respect any kind of contribution, and I will stick to it forever.

From the active 20 people, most of them currently sits on last year of high school and will face the final exams, so most of us always had excuses: after school lessons, try out, exams. There were also some of us who had moved to Bandung for school or college. Aisha, my partner-in-crime, had departed to Charleston, West Virginia, as a participant of YES (Youth Exchange and Study Programs), AFS. Read Aisha’s story, here.

TCFT was started on June 2006. It popped up in my head, and followed with a phone call  to Aishanatasha. Then, it spreaded to our friends. It all started with an idea, a dream, a hope. Two years later, we are these. :-)

After TCFT was non-activated, we got thrilling-exciting offers. We were about to be interviewed by Majalah Saos (Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa), Planet Remaja (anTV), were about to have a meeting with Ms Titie Sadarini from The Coca-Cola Foundation, … I had to say no to all of those, because we didn’t have enough human resources. I could have attended all of those alone, but I don’t think it’s fair. The Cure For Tomorrow is not mine, it belongs to everyone who has given their contributions, and they have the right to experience the same things like I and Aisha did.

Establishing TCFT has opened a lot of opportunities for me, Aisha, and the others to move. TCFT wants to break the paradigm and stereotype that kids and teens cannot do anything, cannot bring a change. Without TCFT, we would have never been like this. I would never become Indonesia’s delegate for Global Changemakers Guildford Forum 2009, Aisha would never become Indonesia’s delegate in YES and AFS. Being a volunteer might will never make you reach. But, it opens a lot of doors, opportunities. We have met a lot of people, do a lot of new things, learn to socialize, and even try to see the world from a different point of view.

On December 5 2008, I have accomplished an “assignment” from British Council as Indonesian Global Changemaker to attend International Volunteer Day 2008 Celebration at Menteng Park, Central Jakarta. There were booths from Palang Merah Indonesia, Volunteering for International Development from Australia (VIDA), Global Xchange British Council, United Nations Volunteers, and more.

This post will not have any meaning without sharing. Just like what Everybody Loves Irene said, love is sharing. :-)

1. UN Volunteers offered an alternative to do online volunteering for everybody from all around the world who cannot depart to other countries but want to  do something to help the world. By the time I posted this entry, there were 3000 online volunteers already. Anyone can be an online volunteer. You can do: project development and management, design, coordination and facilitation, IT development, research, writing, editing, translating, training, coaching and consulting. The organization you work for will give you a certificate by the end of your colunteering activities. Click www.onlinevolunteering.org for more.

2. British Council has the Global Xchange program, where 9 Indonesian teenagers by the age of 18 – 25 years old team up with 9 British teenagers with the same age. These 18 kids will be located in a town in the UK for 3 months and a town Indonesia for 3 months. Read Global Xchange 2008’s story on British Council’s site. The latest deadline for the application form will be on early September 2009, for the next in take term, March 2010. Click here to download form. For further information, please contact Ilsa Meidina, (021) 5155561 or try to meet her at British Council Indonesia, Bursa Efek Indonesia Tower 2,  16th Floor.

Interested?

                          

Written by Ryan Novianto, founder of JakartaConcerts.com.

1. No Flash Rule
   Peraturan mendasar dari stage photography untuk international concerts adalah NO FLASH. Sebab, si artis akan merasa terganggu dengan flash yang berasal dari 20 kamera (atau bahkan lebih) yang langsung menyorot wajah mereka dari depan panggung. Dengan kondisi ini, awalnya saya sempat panik. Tapi, alhamdulillah, sekarang sudah menemukan ramuan “pas”-nya.
2. Limited Time
   Stage photographers tidak pernah punya banyak waktu untuk bereksperimen. Saya dan teman-teman dari JakartaConcerts.com paling banyak mendapat jatah memotret selama 3 lagu (kalikan @ 3-4 menit). Beberapa promotor bahkan hanya memberi jatah 5 menit untuk memotret. Dengan kondisi awal nggak tahu lighting bakal seperti apa, begitu juga blocking sang artis, belum lagi berdesakan dengan fotografer lain di pit. Terlebih lagi kalau konser tersebut menarik banyak media, rebutan spot bagus pastinya.
3. Lenses
   Harus selalu siap ganti lensa! Banyak momen di dalam konser yang jarang terjadi, misalnya freezing moments-nya Switchfoot (dan stage act lain yang gila). Kita harus bisa “meramalkan” apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya, jadi bisa mempersiapkan mau pakai lensa apa. Saran saya, sediakan lensa tele, wide danfixed 50 mm. Tele untuk close up artis, wide untuk menangkap semua personil, dan fixed 50 mm sebagai surga, dengan bukaan 1.8, lighting redup sih santai!
4. (Another) Lighting Issue
   Jangan kaget kalau lighting jelek. Karena, di 3 lagu pertama, biasanya lightingnya super jelek. Entah sengaja atau kebetulan, tapi ini sering terjadi. Untuk menyiasatinya, siapkan ISO 800 sampai 1600.
5. Mental!
   Yang paling penting, siapkan mental, jaga emosi. Kita akan rebutan spot di pit, bisa ketutupan fotografer lain. Dan kita, nggak bisa marah dalam kondisi ini. Karena ini sama-sama pekerjaan kita, harus kompromi. Setelah jatah foto selesai, kita pun akan “diusir” sama security, terutama security dari artis itu sendiri.

Saran saya, banyak-banyak latihan di Java Jazz Festival atau event lainnya yang memperbolehkan kita membawa kamera DSLR.

See you on the press pit!

Regards,
Ryan Novianto

                          

So, JakartaConcerts.com is one of the websites I adore very much. It’s a pioneer of a digital media who helps the promoters to distribute the news about upcoming concerts in Jakarta. Although there is another site who plagiarized JakartaConcerts.com, for me–and many euphorians out there, JakartaConcerts.com is still the one.

I talked to one of its founders, Ryan Novianto, and did a short interview.

Hi, Ryan. How are you?
Hello, I’m great!

So, what is JakartaConcerts.com exactly?
JakartaConcerts.com is a website. We’re doing our part to kick the things out into the higher gear. Kalau sebelumnya, concerts infos only appear on magazines or other conventional medias, JakartaConcerts.com tries to facilitate it all through a website. Intinya, kami adalah website yang membahas konser di Jakarta dan Indonesia, we also build a community consists of concert addicts through the site.

How did you start it all?
It started from a light discussion between Dimas Wisnuwardono (co-founder of JakartaConcerts.com -red) and me. We talked about our euphoria after watching MUSE’s concert on February 2007, a never-ending one. After that, an idea came to our minds. We wanted to do a business, to make T-shirts for concert lovers. So, dengan kaos itu kita ke konser bisa seru-seruan bareng. Then, another idea came to my mind. “Why don’t we make an online community for concert lovers?” Finally, we discussed about the idea and the concept of JakartaConcerts.com was born.

What are your achievements until now?
Since we started JakartaConcerts.com, in about one year, we have already become partners with 9 international concert promoters. You can see our logo on concert posters and witness the placement of our banners inside the concert venues. One thing Dimas and I had never thought would happen when we started JakartaConcerts.com.

How does it feel?
Everytime I see the logo of JakartaConcerts.com anywhere, the only thing that came to my mind is like I am actually asleep and my mum can wake me up anytime soon. I might say I’m so proud. I live to make my parents proud. Maybe I can do that by doing this. My daddy once called me after I got an interview with a radio station, and he said, “Good job, Yan. Keep up the good work…” It’s simple, really. But, it means a lot to me and it gives strength for me to continue what I have started.

What do you want to say to the people who are reading this article?
If you have a dream, find a way to accomplish it. Don’t only think about today’s plan, think about what you are going to do in the future. If you have any problems today, just say “Hakuna matata!” out loud. Aaaand, if you’d like to share your euphoria, don’t forget to join JakartaConcerts.com’s forum, people! :)

I guess that’s it all I’ll do another interview with him (or perhaps Dimas) another time. Please do see JakartaConcerts.com by clicking the links below:

www.jakartaconcerts.com (main site)
www.jakartaconcerts.org (forum)