What Jokowi Needs to Learn from Soeharto (Hint: Book Lovers will Agree)

‎As the honeymoon phase is slipping away, Jokowi has been getting bombarded with criticism (out of varying levels of disappointment) from some people around him. And now it’s my time to do so. It’s been almost 7 months since Jokowi started to reign. Overall, I approve of almost all his steps (with the KPK-Police tug…

More Dramas, Fuel for the Journalism Industry

‎I plan to be a lot more optimistic in 2015 and here I am now drenched in the streams of information about the political drama. Last year’s epic drama seemed to keep us in high spirit and it still has a lot of sequels to come. I don’t want to talk about whoever or whatever…

Sekat-sekat Muslihat

Dalam berita yang saya pernah dengar menjelang malam Natal, yang biasanya saya dengar adalah aparat kepolisian disibukkan dengan penjagaan di Gereja Katedral Jakarta. Saya tidak banyak bertanya mengapa katedral yang kerap kali disebut. Jika saya cermati memang lebih jarang saya mendengar ada pemberitaan penjagaan aparat di gereja-gereja Kristen Protestan di media massa. Saya tak ambil…

Ahok, “The Mad Man” of Jakarta, Tells Us More about His Views on Entrepreneurship and Jakarta (2- end)

Ahok previously touched on plurality and creativity as the nation’s potential. He was again pissed off as he found out a shocking fact. Upon knowing it took several days for a letter to reach his working desk, he casually went curious and questioned his subordinates. “I want all of the letters for me came to me…

Ahok, “The Mad Man” of Jakarta, Tells Us More about His Views on Entrepreneurship and Jakarta (1)

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama – the complete name of Ahok – never tries to please everyone. Especially those haters. The relatively young, amazingly blatant and straight-to-the point leader of Jakarta seems to be undismayed even by the agressiveness of Front Pembela Islam (FPI). But he has really strong reasons to support what he does now as…

Two Things Foreign Entrepreneurs Complain Most About Indonesia

“To build business in Indonesia is actually really good,”said he. Steven Kim of Qraved.com claims the reason is because Indonesians are familiar with English. This is considered a plus. Language barrier is minimum. It’s also network-oriented. “When I worked for Zalora Singapore, it was very tough because there were additional problems I had to solve.”…

Despite Huge Market Potentials, AirBnB Lets Indonesia Users Base Grow Organically

‎Being a reporter means you’ve got the privilege to ask whatever questions you have in your mind. So while everyone else spoke up about how cool AirBnB service has become so far and how lucrative the business opportunities for being a host may seem, I hurled a rather outlandish question about co-founder Brian Chesky at…

This Is Why Nobody Wants to Be a Wordsmith in Indonesia

Living as an author or novelist or short story writer or journalist is TOUGH, regardless of countries. Though people are inclined to see only the glory of renowned authors like JK Rowling, Danielle Steele, Elizabeth Gilbert or Dan Brown, many ignore the story behind their glamorous lives. One may find these authors’ past period as…

Mindset Gratisan dan Revolusi Mental Bangsa Agar Lebih Bermartabat

Siapa sih yang orang Indonesia yang tidak suka barang gratis? Hampir semuanya pasti suka. Uang di dompet masih utuh, kebutuhan terpenuhi. Ah, enaknya! Maka dari itu, mendapatkan barang diskon apalagi gratis yang masih layak dan bagus menjadi kebanggaan bagi orang Indonesia. Sebuah prestasi yang bisa dikatakan membanggakan dan membuat iri. “Bagaimana dia bisa mendapat barang…

Startup

“Indonesian startup world s*cks,”celetuk teman saya petang kemarin. Saya tidak kaget. Ia seorang ‘salary man’, tipikal ‘corporate guy’ yang kurang tahu menahu dengan perkembangan startup di Indonesia. Namun demikian, ia memiliki sejumlah pemikiran yang menurut saya cukup menarik karena dan saya sepakat dengannya dalam sejumlah poin. Pertama, ia berkata bahwa startup Indonesia masih belum menjanjikan….

“It’s My Startup”: Ramuan Kiat dan Motivasi Bisnis untuk Entrepreneur Indonesia

Membaca buku kadang tidak cukup. Apalagi kalau Anda seorang entrepreneur. Saya teringat dengan penuturan Megain Widjaja, seorang entrepreneur muda, yang mengatakan, kurang lebih seingat saya, bukan membaca isi buku yang paling penting bagi pembaca tetapi apakah pembaca itu mau bergerak melakukan sesuatu yang nyata setelah buku itu habis dilahap. Bentuknya bisa bermacam-macam. Entah itu mendiskusikan…

Selamat Ulang Tahun, Pak Wowo!

Ada dua alasan kenapa orang berubah baik secara tiba-tiba: karena bulan puasa datang dan karena hari ulang tahunnya akan tiba. Untuk kasus Prabowo Subianto, alasan kedua tampaknya lebih cocok.Di BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29655872), ia diberitakan sudah “berdamai dan mendukung” musuh bebuyutannya di Pilpres 2014 yang sudah mirip Bharatayudha bagi bangsa ini. Entah kenapa BBC masih memakai tanda…