A Message for Indonesian-descendant abroad : Should I go home to Indonesia ?

I am writing this article as a reminder to you all - Indonesian-descendant abroad asking this question to yourself : Should I go home (to Indonesia) after studying abroad ?

You make the decisions yourself - and I will present you the facts. 

I went back to Jakarta after studying and working abroad for 8 years - because I missed my family.  I can tolerate the traffic, the air-pollution, the office politics, the bad healthcare, the bad sanitation and hygiene in street foods, etc.  I have had hopes that Indonesian-descendants (whatever the race - Chinese, Arabs, Indians, etc) can live in Indonesia peacefully, that "wind of change" are coming when Jokowi and Ahok was elected as Jakarta Governor/Vice Governor, then Jokowi elected as President and Basuki (I will address him as Ahok - not because I am racist; but that's the common name that people know him as).  took over as Jakarta Governor (with Djarot as Vice Governor).

Like millions of people living and/or working in Jakarta, currently  I am experiencing bad traffic when going to office, or going back from office.  Nevertheless, we all realized that it's for the better Jakarta (building Mass Rapid Transit/MRT), coming more tollways, fast train from Cibubur and from Airport to City - it's all progressing rapidly.  

Those that running business must have experienced that current Government was trying to cut the red-tapes for permits, etc - making it easier to apply or renew permits and cutting bureaucratic red-tapes shorter - making Indonesia more attractive for foreign investment.  Beside that, current Government also working hard to identify and arrests the corruptors - be it from government officials, or from outside (private sectors, businesses who tried to make their way by bribing - a common concept in Indonesia when you are trying to make things go smoothly).

However, all that utopia dreams seems to have vanished - when during his Governor campaign for 2nd term, he was being sued by religion (Islam) blasphemy issue.  If you are curious about the facts, you can find out about it and googled about it yourself - then make your own conclusions.  In my perspective - what he said was "don't get fooled (by people) using Al Maidah : 51 (one of the verse in Koran - moslem's bible) about not electing non-moslem as your leader.  There are many perspectives what does that verse means (you also can Google them by yourself - some said Awliya - a term in Arabic ; could means friends; could also means leader - while other said that leader these days are not necessarily religious leaders; but more like a public/civil servant - which is basically what a Governor is).  However, when this issue was being blown up as religion blasphemy - Ahok chances of being elected as Governor for 2nd term seems to have vanished.  His political opponents taking this opportunity to blast the religious issue :

* If you are moslem, and you voted for Ahok - you are guilty to your religion, and will suffer in hell

* If you are moslem, and you voted for Ahok - when you died, the mosque will reject to pray for your body.

* Hardcore moslems taking this actions by holding mass protests to do demo on Ahok that crippled Jakarta for several occasions (212 action - refer to December 2nd, 2016 - the first date when they do the demo - until to date; when Ahok still not imprisoned, they will not stop).

Now, as an Indonesian- descendant living (or studying) abroad - you may think that : this too will pass. Well, to tell you the truth - it won't.  A friend of mine - who comes from a smaller city in Indonesia (Medan - in Sumatera island) told me this : In the past, the racial sentiment are bigger in the smaller cities - you can feel or must have experienced it when being called "Chinese, Arabs, or Indians".  It's quite common, and they already (or try to) get used to it.  But in Jakarta, we have never felt that - because in Jakarta, everyone is coming from different areas of Indonesia (even from abroad).  When you see an oriental guy walking down in Sudirman (Jakarta Central Business District area) - he is not necessarily a Chinese.  He could be Japanese, Korean, Singaporean, Malaysian, Vietnamese, and so on.  However, after Ahok religion blasphemy issue being blown up - suddenly being non-Indonesian or non-moslem (well, especially Chinese and Christian - because that's what Ahok is) suddenly became bad.  If you are Chinese, or Christian, or both - it's bad for you.

Now, some of you reading this article may argued - nope, that's not the case - we never experienced it.  Well, maybe - if you are living in North Jakarta, West Jakarta, or Central Jakarta - where the non-Indonesian are majority there.  Try living in South Jakarta, East Jakarta, Bekasi, or Tangerang area where Indonesians are majority.  When it's not an issue in the past, it became an issue when the hardcore moslem group said that it's a religion blasphemy by a Chinese Christian Governor candidate.  Suddenly, living in Indonesia became a nightmare and you are afraid that 1998 Riot/Racial Incident may occur again.

Based on leading survey - more than 70% of Jakarta citizen actually happy withe the progress made - but however, only 42% opt to choose Ahok as their Governor.  And all - according to political analyst - is because of the (alleged) religion blasphemy done by Ahok, and when people voting - they voted because of emotional factor, and not logical.  Now, seeing this facts - would you - Indonesian abroad - still coming back to Indonesia thinking that Indonesia could still be your utopian place to stay ? Or would you rather stay abroad ?

I know for a fact what's living abroad feels like,  There will always be haters, racist people.  But nevertheless, it's not the whole society there.  You may still have your faith in humanity there.  Here, not so much.  If you don't believe what I have shared with you in this article - check with your acquaintances or families in Indonesia (or Jakarta) - and ask for their opinions.  Reality check : only 42% of Jakarta people voted for Ahok - meaning : only 42% Jakarta citizen are "reasonable and logical" enough to think with their head and take a logical political decision.  The rest ? I am not sure here.  You be the judge yourself.

Some of other articles you may find worth reading are here (by Financial Times), here (by The Guardian), and here (by CNN).

The Danger of Being Social Media Darling

I have posted previously about Signs That You Are Addicted to Social Media (here).  This article will also discuss the danger of being a social media darling / narcissistic.

Sometime after midnight on Monday, October 3rd 2016 - it is reported that Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint of jewelry worth in total of nearly US$ 9 million in her apartment in Paris, France (read the news here).  A few hours before the robbery took place, Kim still showed her activity in Snapchat, showing the her diamond engagement ring from Kanye West still in her finger.

It was still a speculation whether the robber targeted the jewelry because of her inline posting in Instagram and Snapchat.  But the robbery may have caused by too much information that Kim put in Social Media.

Social Media users prone to criminal activity, due to leaking too much information - from personal information (birthday, geotagging location, etc).  voila - your location showed up instantly in Google Maps.
Almost all kind of smartphone can trace your whereabouts easily when GPS is turned on.  The information of your exact location can be added into the photos that you have just uploaded easily.  By taking the GPS coordinates from your photo,

Another case : On December 2015, a man named Arturo Galvan was arrested for robbing 33 houses in California, USA (read the news here).  Arturo identified his victims from photos that they uploaded on Instagram and Facebook.  The 44-year-old man used GPS coordinates in the photo to track where the victims live, then stole electronics, wallet, valuables, and (ahem) women underwear as well.  Beside postings, information that you uploaded in Social Media also made you prone to be cyber-crime victim.

Beside postings photograph, don't divulge personal information such as birthday.  You may have called Call Center to reset password, report stolen credit cards, etc - and one of the means that Call Center officer can verify your information, is your birthday.  By adding information including Schools, Universities that you attended, cyber-criminal can steal your identity to conduct crimes.
Somebody can take that information and create a new identity.

Even though you set your Social Media profile become private, and only for the people that you really know, the risk of your personal information being divulged by strangers still exist.  Moreover if you often posted new status or new photo.  Once posted, a social media post, photo will FOREVER be online in Internet.  ALWAYS assume - everything that you share in Social Media will be seen by people all over the world, NOT just friends or families.  So, please keep your personal information for yourselves =D

Flagship Phones Battery Life Comparison - October 2016

Hiya all - it's good to be back ! =D Yes, I have just returned from my company assignment in Istanbul, Turkey.  Many fun, exciting experiences that I will share with you all - later on ! For now, I would like to get myself used to the writing habit again.  This time, I would like to discuss latest Flagship Phones Battery Life Comparison (as per this article written in October 4th, 2016).

I am reviewing an article writeen by a product-comparison company from UK, Which ? - that tested the battery life for several flagship phones, namely iPhone 7, Galaxy S7, LG G5, and HTC 10.

As you can see in the table below, iPhone 7 consistently sits at the end of the lines - be it in 3G call time, or accessing Internet using 3G network.

Now, can you imagine - using iPhone as your primary mobile phone: three hours for using the apps and browsing, getting email notifications, and downloading several photos, listening music for only five hours, and play game for an hour - in total can only lasts for 14 hours.

The fact that iPhone 7 battery capacity at 1,960 mAH (bigger capacity than iPhone 6S) did make it better, also iPhone 7 did not have technology to quickly charge your phone, and it will take approximately 2 hours to charge your iPhone 7 to its full capacity.

IT Guys nightmare

This article is dedicated to all IT fellow around the world ....

Many times, IT guys (or girls - to all of you femi-nazi out there) are the "plumber", the "electrician", one that people in companies call to fix things - even though it's not a really IT-related issues (the sink in the pantry is broken - call the IT guys).  Hey, we are helpful people, and we will do it - if we can do it ...

There are lots of times where people from other departments regarded IT as "technicians" or "repair guy", and tried to dump their work to IT (any of you ever help your boss to transfer his contacts from old mobile phone to a new one ? or pull report from accounting system ? or create entire billing system from scratch ?).

In many companies, IT not even considered "that" important (usually IT is under Finance, or Operation). Now, IMHO - what do Finance people knows about IT - beside cutting the budget and say "NO" ?).


IT is not a necessity in many companies, until someone from Management says "OK, it's official - we need a dedicated repairman for this company ... "

A lot of times, when IT department proposes new system to help company works  - more efficient and effective - those are rejected ("we don't need it", "don't have the budget", "why use legal software if pirated one works", etc).  Some scenarios :
1) We need a good hardware (server, firewall, desktop, laptop, etc).
     Management says : nope, "create" servers from desktops, use Linux-based machine as firewall,
     etc.  Well, let me enlighten you :
     * Servers sold by vendors usually designed to be operating 24/7, 365 days a year - desktop are not.
        To force a desktop (no matter how good/expensive/high-end it is) to operate as server, it will
        not be as "heavy-duty" as real server.
     * Linux are good, but requires consistent checking, patching, testing, etc.  Moreover, a lot of times
        - traffic to update servers are heavy - or they just decided to take down the respective servers,
        making you unable to download the patch needed.  I am not defending Microsoft or Oracle in
        this case - but when it comes to patches, they are quite OK.
     * Regarding the importance of patching servers - read this article about Why 1,000 flights were grounded on August 2015.

2) Corporate dedicated email server needed. Why ? Read Hillary Clinton case.

3) We need good software and valid licensing. Boss said : use pirated one.  You tell him/her : Nope.
If you insisted, I need a black and white.

4) Good Service, i.e : good internet service provider with good quality (dedicated service, etc).  Boss said : this broadband service is CHEAP, and the speed is up to 100 Mbps.  READ THE FINE LINES, BOSS -
"up to ..." means : during non-peak  hours, it may or may not reach 100 Mbps, because it's best-case scenario.  Dedicated 10 Mbps is better than "up to 100 Mbps", because with a dedicated service, you are "guaranteed" 10 Mbps at any time (ALL THE TIME).

5) Backup, backup, and backup. Boss said : no need. You said : Fine, but if you lose your email,
    your excel sheet that you need to show the investor, etc - then don't blame me.

6) Why the Internet down - fine, IT guys will check it - it's our job.  But when no electricity and the computers/Internet is off and your boss come screaming - you tell them : This is why I recommend using UPS, you cheap b*****d (excuse the French).

If you need more tips, or encounter different thing with your boss, drop me an email (just to ask, or to share, etc.  Don't worry, the first email is free - just kidding ! )

The Hard Truth - : Employees as your biggest asset - Yes or No ?

My old colleague from North America branch - whom I have utmost respect for (and the one I got the quote : "Good Company Are Known By The People It Keeps") once asked me this : what do you think about the saying "Employees Are Your Greatest Assets" ?

I said, I don't know - maybe part of it is right, but not entirely the truth.  He agreed with me - and explained his view on this.  When you start to generalize that all employees are great - that statement is not true. However, there are some employees really go beyond and above.  Those that worked really hard, and realize that they need to make progress, set examples for others - are the one worth keeping with the company.  However, those that keep saying (and complaining) in front of their colleagues, bosses, or subordinates (e.g: OMG, I fell asleep on my desk working on this project last night - or OMG, I am tired all the time because I spent 8 hours doing this shit, and so on ...) - those are the one you need to keep your eyes on : either they are REALLY working hard, or they just like to exaggerate things, but dump the whole work to their subordinates.

A Good Manager supposed to be distributing equally balance of workload to his/her subordinates (and him/herself), while re-assessing the progress of the job.  If one subordinates fell behind, seemed stressful, etc - talk to them (to see what are the challenges, etc).

Same thing for those that seems doing really well and progressed impressively - talk to them, give them more challenge, and encourage them - so they can do even better and excel.  At the same time, you have to provide praises and encourages those that perform well, and punish those that still left behind (even after your talk / counseling session with them).

T.P Rachmat (you can click the link to find out more about him) - former Astra Group CEO has classified employees into three main categories:

A) The Talent - those that are consistently work hard to increase their standards/talents.  These individuals always look for projects, improvements to be done, and challenged themselves.  They are not afraid to take up challenges, new positions, even they have little to no experience on the subject matter.  They are willing to learn and adapt into new roles.  As their bosses, you must have keen eyes to identify these individuals, as they are only a few of them within an organizations (5-10% at most) and it will be such as a waste for companies to lose them.

B) The Solid Worker - these are the individuals that always work according to the standard.  You tell them/provide them with instructions, and they will execute it 100% exactly according to your instructions.  However, solid worker will not like / enjoy fluctuating/dynamic working environment where the factors always changing and need to adapt / adjust all the time (or need to make quick decisions by themselves).  Bosses will also need to know which individuals within their organizations are Solid Workers - you can give them consistent flow of projects or work - but you will need to keep tab on them from time to time.  Depends on how effective and efficient of your organizations conditions, the amount of Solid Worker can be more than Dead Wood , or vice-versa.

C) The Dead Wood - those are below standards employees.  As the term dead-wood indicate, these are employees that works below standards, those that browse internet and social media during work (facebook, twitter, etc), or even enjoy pooping in their work time, or take care of personal stuff (that's right - you read me correctly - when people trying to find him/her, usually they are "in the toilet", or "take smoking break", or "go to ATM", etc).  You can warn these individuals during session with HR and their direct supervisors/managers, that time of year during performance appraisal, etc.  If after several sessions, these individuals did not show improvement - it's your decision whether to keep them, or let them go.

Back to our original discussions - "Employees Are Company's Greatest Asset" ? YES AND NO. You need to keep the best employees (the talent and solid worker), but get rid of the dead wood.  How to do that ? Well, it will be entirely different chapter on this one, folks.  But let me give you a clue : Talent Management is not the answer (yes, some companies insisted on having Talent Management program, to identify and spot these Talent - but let me tell you something - is this the answer to identify and keep these talent and solid worker employees ? NOPE).

Have a good Monday ! I have very good inspiration today, and I promise you to write another article before end of this week !

I am moving to Istanbul, Turkey - on company assignment for one year !

Dear readers,

So sorry for the long hiatus from posting on my blog - my last posting was from May 3rd, 2015 (*whew - that was three months ago !).  Reason being for my hiatus is because I am on company assignment, and has been relocated to Istanbul, Turkey - for a year contract.  Yes, Istanbul - the country that (approx.) half part of it on Asian continent, and the other part on European continent.  

Although it doesn't look that far (see map), but it's actually quite far.  I took Singapore Airlines, depart from CGK (Soekarno-Hatta International Airport), Jakarta to SIN (Changi International Airport), Singapore - 2 hours 45 mins, then wait for approx. 2 hours to continue flight from SIN to IST (Attaturk International Airport), Istanbul - 15 hours 20 mins (*whew).

It took me quite sometime to get back on my feet in Istanbul, Turkey (settle in my new apartment, get used to the environment, buy some utensils, etc) plus the workload that kept me occupied.  However, I am OK now, and ready to share some pictures and stories with you all.

My colleagues and staffs are very helpful. Knowing that it's my first time to Turkey, they took me to some very interesting places :

1) Bosphorus Bridge.
Connect Asian and European continent.  If you have the time, take a picture of this bridge during night time (beautiful sight, and a popular tourist, couples destination).  You can also visit various cafe alongside the strait, sit back, relax, and enjoy the view.  It's breathtaking, and as if you own the whole view by yourself !

2) Sultan Ahmed Mosque / Blue Mosque.
One of the historical places and main tourist attraction.  If you are a historical and/or architectural geek, this is a must place to see.

3) Have kebab !
Kebab is one of Turkey most delicious dishes - and you must try it ! Or as Singaporean sayings - "die die must try !"


According to Wikipedia : Kebab, (also kebap, kabob, kebob, kabab, or shishkebab) is a Middle Eastern, Eastern Mediterranean, and South Asian dish of pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit, originating in the Eastern Mediterranean,where it is mentioned by Homer, or the Middle East, and later adopted in Central Asia and by the regions of the former Mongol Empire and later Ottoman Empire, before spreading worldwide. In American English, kebab with no qualification refers to shish kebab (Turkish: şiş kebap) cooked on a skewer, whereas in Europe it refers to doner kebab, sliced meat served in a pita. In the Middle East, however, kebab refers to meat that is cooked over or next to flames; large or small cuts of meat, or even ground meat; it may be served on plates, in sandwiches, or in bowls.

The traditional meat for kebab is lamb, but depending on local tastes and religious prohibitions, other meats may include beef, goat, chicken, pork or fish. Like other ethnic foods brought by travellers, the kebab has remained a part of everyday cuisine in most of the Eastern Mediterranean and South Asia. Doner kebab is popular in Germany as a snack after a night out.

So far, this is all I can share with you all.  If any of you visiting Istanbul, drop me an email - maybe we can hang out together !  Cheers !

Signs you are addicted to social media

On a recent trip to Malaysia with one of my staff, we had a nice dinner in a sushi restaurant in Midvalley Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  To my astonishment, he take several pictures of the food first before upload them to social media.  Yup, he is a social-media bitch (ahem, please excuse the language ...)

I mean - OK, it's fine you like the food, enjoy the dinner and the place - at most, take a picture and send it to your girlfriend.  No need for the whole world to see it.  I don't need the whole world to know that at this exact moment, I am eating sushi in XYZ restaurant in KL (heck, even I don't remember the restaurant name now).

For some people, being a social media "celebrity" is a necessity - it's a place where you can "show-off", pretend everything is cool and OK, and let the world knows that "I am cool too, ya know"  ("Ow, I have just got a new haircut, look at my hair ...").  I mean - really ????

I am OK if younger generations are more tech-savvy these days, well-connected via social media.  However, many occasions where social media do more harm than good (e.g : bullying, etc).

Below here are several signs that you are addicted to social media :
1) It's the first thing you check in the morning
2) You check your smart(phone) or social media (postings, likes, etc) every 10 minutes (yup, that will make about approx. 48-50 times per day while you are working (not including off-work).
3) You will become agitated or irritable when your (smart)phone is out-of-sight (not within your reach).
4) You have argued (several times) with your spouse, families - about your phone usage (or amount of time you spend online/on social media).
5) You can't do anything without sharing it (#pooping now #itsbrown #smellsliketeenspirit)
6) You felt that your world is over when you have no internet / data connection, or when your (smart)phone is running out of battery.
7) Your friends know that the only way to get to you is via social media
8) You feel that your friends is an alien if he/she doesn't have social media account
9) Social media is your first choice of recreation, and the main thing that you do when you are on the Internet.
10) You would wake up in the middle of the night, or check your social media at least once when you are having lunch/dinner in a public place.