IndoThink

Life in the fast lane

2010-11-17T10:36:00.004+07:00

Recently the whole of Jakarta came to a standstill due to heavy rains and floods which caused the traffic unbearable. Most commuter were outraged by the fact that it took most two to six hours to get home. For obvious reasons, the governor of Jakarta came under severe attack from all Jakartans but those who are most critical were the vocal minority in Twitter and other social media including Blackberry Messenger.

This tweetactivitsm is on a rise in Indonesia, people feel compelled to RT (Retweet) for a cause or convey a strong criticism in 140 characters. However, their complaints are often because most lack real action in their lives to actually make a difference so they turn to the world of digital to satisfy their ego and I am guilty of that to an extent. If one can see how they can make a difference in the real society perhaps digitally should only be temporary outlet. Ask yourself, what am I doing to make a real difference?

The fact is that the weather is dynamic, and we have very little control over this fact. But if people think that the rain is to blame for traffic in Jakarta that is an idiotic statement. The facts are as follows, there is 6 million vehicles in the greater Jakarta Area (JABODETABEK) and 27 million people reside in this megapolis. With only 9 million people who actually reside with in the DKI Jakarta area. 900 vehicles are sold per day, which 200 are cars, and the rest are motorcycle. So with this many vehicles on the road, do we really have enough roads?

Second fact, is that we have bad habits as citizens of the city and the surrounding area. One of which is throwing garbage not in the right place, and covering any soil with concrete when building anything. Yes we blame the government, rightly so, but we also need to blame ourselves for all this.

As cars and people increase, garbage and pollution also increase, but roads and land does not increase much. Traffic, well suck it up and smile, unless you are one who can truly say that you are making a difference.

digital advocacy

2010-06-06T21:10:00.000+07:00

As we are in the age of digital, we often see people starting a cause or movement online. This is "digital advocacy". When regular people are moved by a moral cause and spread their influence online.

Here are some recent cases;

Bibit-Chandra, the heads of the corruption commision being framed for receiving bribes. Netizens took arms with their smart phones, laptops and pc's, and started a movement on facebook as well as Twitter to free the KPK heads. It worked!

The second was the case of Prita, a lady who sent a complaint email about a hospital to several of her friends and was subsequently jailed for this seemingly normal reaction to a maltreatment. Again facebook and Twitter played a massive role in galvanizing netizens to pressure the government to interveen. The movement comtinued offline where netizens organized a "coins for justice" collection drive. Bloggers drove this, citizens followed and at the end more than $60,000 was collected.

More recently, a famous American Idol was due to perform a concert in Indonesia, but her main sponsors was a tobacco company. Netizens against tobacco sponsorships bombarded the Idol's online embassies with message of appeals for not to do the concert due to the tobacco sponsorship. The Idol listened and the tobacco company was dropped in 2 days of this coordinated advocacy.

Galvanizing the netizens of Indonesia through a moral movement seems to be an organic effect. Or is it?

There is always beginning to all causes and movement, in this case perhaps our conscience is the start.

Did you know 4.0

2009-09-24T10:37:00.003+07:00

The State of Corruption

2009-09-16T16:41:00.002+07:00

I wonder what this country would be like now without the 54 years of corruption. I'd say we would be an ASEAN powerhouse much like Singapore or even Japan. Corruption is like a childhood disease, if you have fallen ill as a child with nasty fevers or bugs, doctors claim that this can stunt the growth of a child. As a result, the child could be shorter than he is supposed to be, or even not as smart as he is supposed to be. From the on set of the birth of this Republic, our leaders have layed waste to our countries natural resource in the name of greed.

Then the Anti Corruption Commission, or better known as KPK was formed as a superbody to be the police and executioner which was to be feared by corrupt individuals/ officials. Now, that has come to a huge question mark. First, the leader of KPK was recently implicated and later accused of the murder of a state own company director, which took the shape of a love triangle gone wrong scenario. Not really that creative, but hey....That was dispproved, and quickly finger pointers and conspiracy theorist alike, believed it was the hand of those in power to debunk KPK and striped it of all its powers.... so that they can walk away and continue their pillaging of this country. This I do believe.

Most recently, the national police force accused several of KPK leadership of "misuse of authority" and called them in for questioning. My question is that the Police force, which is under the direct authority of the president, does not have that power. As KPK, is a superbody ourside the realm of the government. This was also questioned by the president during his recent presidential campaign, where he stated that "KPK has too much power", later retracted by his people and labeled a lie.

So in conclusion, my two cents is the following... I think and believe strongly that KPK is being questioned so to debunk its existence, paving the way for the New Age Corruptors.... Which brings me to my second conclusion, I believe in the constitution that every government official can receive 2% commission for any business dealings within the government. So why not stick to the law? Greed! I pray for my country and for the people who thinks that money is everything.

2009-08-18T13:53:00.001+07:00

Post Digital Marketing 2009

View more documents from Helge Tennø.

Post Mortum on the Indonesian Election

2009-08-05T19:12:00.004+07:00

The Indonesian presidential election took place in the first weeks of July. Candidates were hotly contesting the presidential seat pushing issues of nationalism and people economy in order to gain advocacy from the 35 million strong internet savvy population. The battle in cyber space ensued with exchange of some intellectual debates as well as some stupid ones. Anyway, my observations was the Jusuf Kalla- Wiranto supporters dominated the cyber war as they coordinated to neutralise their opposition (SBY- Boediono supporters) while gaining the support of the Mega-Prabowo supporters.

However, in all of one month prior to the election, issues ranging from cheating, corruption, neo-liberalism, religion, etc. there was absolutely no mention from any of the three candidates about sustainability and environmental issues. Why the ignorance? This is mindbogling to me as well, as our country is slowly being ransacked of its natural resource the government made no mention of how to protect this beautiful archipelago from the onslought of mining and logging companies (usually disquised as a palm oil plantation).

I ask myself, what would I do if I held a government post regulating mining, forests, or maritime. Would i submit to the conglomerates or would I fight them to protect this country from sliding into a baron desert. Definitely fight!

#indonesiaunite

Green Solutions for Small Communities

2009-05-15T12:29:00.003+07:00

I made a few more observations in Jakarta concerning how we dispose of our garbage. Since I was a child, I noticed that "pemulung" always comes to our garbage bin and makes a mess of it in the name of finding plastic packaging to clean and sell to the recycling agents. They make a very meager living out of this profession however, we must appreciate the fact that they are doing more for the environment than us educated and well informed people. So why can we get in the habit of recycling?

In western countries such as the UK, recycling is a must. Those who don't recycle will pay a financial penalty and their garbage will not be picked up by the council. However, this type of system cannot begin without the buy in of the public.

So, I suggest changing the world with one mind at a time. Lets begin at the small communities level, or what us Indonesians call "Kompleks". The idea of recycling is very simple. Firstly, we need to seperate our waste. Plastics, Glass, Aluminum, and kompostable waste needs to be separated. Why? Because, each has its own economic value.

Each small community can make money through their recycling program, by reselling the shreded plastics, compressed aluminum, broken glass, and komposts. So where do they start? 1. Appoint a person or group of people to manage the process. Housewifes are best to begin this this movement.
2. Send a notification that the community will begin a recycling program to help pemulung and share the profits. Monies made, will go back into the community to improve common areas such as parks, sidewalks, security, etc.
3. Ask people to seperate their garbage into the 4 types of waste.
4. Pemulung will come and collect, and sell on to recyclers, and they will share the a small amount of the profit to the community. In essence, we are providing employment for pemulung, and at the same time provide a small cashflow to the community
5. if the program has a positive feedback from the community, ask the community if they are willing to spend a small amount of money to buy bamboo baskets for the waste to be clearly separated
6. Write about it in a blog.... Promote your community....

Anyway, I think this is a small step to becoming more green.... We have enough waste in Indonesia, why not recycle it.

From Jakarta with Love

2009-05-08T16:31:00.003+07:00

Goodness I am back in the concrete jungle and straight into the thick of it. Working with Indopacific Edelman here in Jakarta as the Director of Edelman Digital Indonesia. Since our return in mid December, life has been interesting, to say the least. The traffic in Jakarta is still the same as 5 years ago when we moved to the UK, however, I feel the air quality has experienced an improvement. But generally, great to be back and doing something good for my country. Well, at least I'd like to think so.

Amongst the political chaos currently experienced in Indonesia due to the elections, I have observed some interesting "Green movements" around Jakarta. The media and people in general are taking small steps towards being more "environmentally friendly". Which is great!

For example, bio-diesel is available in many petrol stations and you see a new breed of "Green" Bajaj (a three wheel taxi, commonly recognised in bright orange) roaming the streets powered by gas. Also, the "TransJakarta" buses are all fueled by Gas powered. I am really surprised on how things have changed for the better in Jakarta in terms of fossil fuel consumption. But is this isolated to Jakarta, or is this wide spread? To be honest I can't say for sure as I have only visited Bali and Jogja since we landed 5 months ago.

I was also very excited about the launch of Toyota Prius, a hybrid car, in Indonesia. This car has been around for a while in the US and Europe, and has changed local city policies which included free parking, free tax, and free road inspections for owners of hybrid vehicles. However, I then found out about how silly the Indonesian government are about making obvious decisions.

I read somewhere, and forgive me for not remembering where, that the makers of Prius has postponed the launch of their hybrid car due to government regulations. Which one I wondered? I then found out from a friend in the Turtle Building , that the government wanted to impose two sets of taxes for the Hybrid variety of cars. Why?????? Well their arguement is that the car has two engines, therefore it needed to be taxed twice. Wow.... then I realised how silly and unisprired the goverment is about polution reduction.

So thats my hopes of buying a hybrid car in Jakarta dashed and taken away from me in an extremely painful way. Maybe I should buy one of those BBG blue bajaj....?

How can I make Jakarta a Green city? Recycling, turning lights out, conserve water, etc.....

I best talk to the Governor of Jakarta, maybe he will listen to my Green Warriorship.....

Corruption, its in our blood

2007-09-20T04:56:00.000+07:00

It is a sad reality when Indonesia was mentioned as one of the top 5 countries in the most corrupt nation list back in 2004. Corruption was said to depend on the individuals. This is true up to a certain point. However, when to be a non corrupt business person or civil servant may end your career rather than jumpstart it, the word institutionalised comes to mind.

Corruption in Indonesia is institutionalised. Everyone gets a piece of the pie. However, those who take think that what ever they take is owed to them one way or another. This is a moral issue as well. There is a difference between receiving commission or fee for services rendered, and taking 40% of any cost for projects, national businesses, or tenders and leaving the country with a substandard infrastructure which will eventually cost the nation even more money to repair or rescue.

Let's look at it rationally, if a person decides to steal money which should have been used to build housing for the Boxing Day Tsunami in Aceh, this should be addressed as a major crime. Those who were expecting to rebuild their lives may have lost their lives through illness because the basics have not been provided. Imagine that all those instant noodle boxes donated by the general public was not handed out to those in need, instead they were shipped out of Aceh to be sold in neighbouring Medan. I can go on and on for days.

I have a solution, rather radical, but it does work in China. Those who are guilty of "depriving the nation" of its monies will be sentenced to death. Yes, death! Lets just make several corrupter examples. Televised execution! TO BE CONTINUED.............................

Tackling Pollution in Jakarta

2007-04-17T21:09:00.000+07:00

As with most major cities in the World today, pollution is a real and costly problem. Jakarta is no different in that respect. The number of cars on the road has continued to increase and fossil fuel consumption is on a steep rise, even with the recent hike in the price of petrol to Rp.6,000 per litre for premium variety.

In London, 1,000 people a year die from breathing and lung problems cause by air pollution. I cannot imagine what the death rate caused by respiratory issues would be in Jakarta.

My family and I left Jakarta for the countryside of England partly due to the fact that my children suffered from respiratory problems on a monthly basis. Every month, some kind of chest infection would be cause for visiting our favorite doctor.

This is not an isolated problem for Jakarta but as mentioned above, it is happening in every major city in the World. And the way, each city reduces its pollution must be tailored to the habits and other factors such as public transport system as well as the ability for the government to want to do better for the cities inhabitants.

Unfortunately for Jakarta, the local government are more concerned about lining their own pockets than the well being of the population. Furthermore, Jakarta's transport system is no where near meeting capacity or quality to be able to take people out of cars/ motorbikes.

My first recommendation is to place an MOT test for all vehicles. The test will not only cover road worthiness but also its emission. This should be given to a private company. And every car must have a certification on its window. Those who do not pass the test 3 times must sell their car for scrap.

Secondly, all motor vehicle must have insurance. This may seem rather elitist, because only those who can afford to have road worthy vehicle (insured) can be on the road. But this is the reality of reducing pollution.

Thirdly, congestion charging. Many cities such as London, and Singapore has already implemented this system and it works. The level of noxious fumes from road going vehicles has been reduced considerably over the past year.

Fourthly, allow the sale of alternative fuelled vehicle. At the moment, Jakartan can buy LPG powered vehicle and most taxi's use this fuel. However, the government should lift the ban on Electric vehicle as well as hybrid. Also, people and business should received incentives for buying and using these low emission vehicles, such as tax breaks, free MOT tests, lower insurance, and carbon offset points.

These are just some suggestions and recommendation that I have come up with to reduce pollution in my beloved city Jakarta. If you cannot change the people, change the rules.

How to regulate the transport industry in Indonesia

2007-03-14T03:04:00.000+07:00

There are several ideas that I have thought of concerning the pressing issue of transport regulations. This issue is obviously at the top of the governments agenda, with safety records in most of Indonesia's transport network at its lowest point currently. Recent transportation related tragedies in sea, rail, and air is the main driver for why your ideas are needed.

The primary issue is safety regulations in transport. Let paint the big picture. Current regulatory body for the transportation industry is a government run operation. This body lacks operational funding which inturn breeds corrupt elements with in its duty to upkeep the safe running of all transport systems.
Just take an example of the KIR, which is like the MOT test in the UK. This test ensures that all motor vehicles commercial and non commercial meets certain basic safety and emission standards. In Indonesia, the KIR of a commercial vehicle can be passed by under the table handshake to the testing supervisor. This inturn is why most buses and trucks in Indonesia are not really road worthy. Smoke bellowing out of the exhaust, tires which have no threads, and breaks which must be assisted by placing a large rock or log even on a slight incline are just some of the horrific examples of the failure of regulation checks.

Lets use the Air transport to illustrate my idea. The idea is to have private companies regulate safety for the Air industry and to drive policy in lobby to change certain basic laws in the brew. How you may ask?

The companies must be internationally regulated by the FAA and all air safety body around the world. A third party contract will ensure a non bias take on the safety issue at hand. Ideally, the company should be a multinational company renown and has a good reputation in airline safety checks and regulations. For example, a safety consultant out of the two major airplane manufacturing giants, Airbus and Boeing. This company will be owned by a 50/50 ownership with an Indonesian consortium. Routine monthly check of all national airlines will occur. Landing spot checks will also happen. Failure to meet safety standards will result in grounding of the airplane in question. Three strike rule should be inplace where three grounding within an airline will result in a massive penalty.

I am no air safety consultant thus my general overview.

This company will be funded by the government who receive money from airlines as fees namely, operating fees, landing fees, taxes, and with this safety program inplace, the government can charge a safety regulation fee.
This company is also liable for any mis diagnosis of airplanes or airline safety which results in an accident fatal or non fatal.

Such idea can be implemented accross all transport systems.

Now, let me hear some of your ideas on how to regulate the transport industry in Indonesia. Please discuss freely other transport systems, land, sea, etc.