Student Fare dari Garuda Indonesia

Tak banyak yang tahu, Garuda Indonesia mempunyai kebijakan untuk memberikan harga khusus bagi penumpang yang berstatus pelajar/mahasiswa. Selain harga khusus, penerbangan dari Seoul juga akan mendapatkan bagasi sebanyak 40 kg, bertambah dari kapasitas normal 30 kg.

Untuk mendapatkannya, pertama persiapkan scan/foto dari  student certificate, surat yang menyatakan bahwa anda adalah pelajar dari suatu kampus. Sekalian siapkan juga scan paspor anda. 

Hubungi call center Garuda di Seoul pada nomor 027-732-0924. Cek harga pada tanggal keberangkatan anda. Lalu sebutkan bahwa anda adalah pelajar dan ingin mendapatkan student fare. Voila! Petugas akan memberikan harga yang lebih murah.

Bila anda mengissue tiketnya, petugas akan meminta nama, nomor telepon di Korea, dan email anda. Anda bisa juga menyebutkan nomor Garuda Frequent Flyer bila punya. Selanjutnya itenerary perjalanan beserta cara membayar akan dikirimkan ke email anda. Anda juga akan diminta untuk mengirimkan scan paspor dan student certificate sebelum membayar. Pengiriman bisa via email atau fax, sementara pembayaran bisa melalui kartu kredit atau transfer bank yang lebih mudah.

Setelah membayar, e-ticket akan dikirimkan pada Anda. Jangan lupa print e-ticket Anda pada hari keberangkatan. Selamat berperjalanan!

Y U NO OPTIMISTIC?

This is my answer for Quora question:
Indonesia: Why are some reasons to be optimistic about Indonesia's future?
Btw, checkout Quora. They're awesome!

McKinsey Global Institute predicted that Indonesia can be #7 biggest economy in the world by 2030 (from #16 today). The complete report listed several supporting trends such as:

1. The rise of Asia
Over the next 15 years, Asia is predicted to contribute 75% of  the additional 1.8 billion members of global consuming class. Indonesia already seeing its exports to other Asian economy accelerated strongly in recent years (15-20% p.a.). This will continue once the global economy pick up.

2. Urbanization
71% of Indonesians will be living in urban areas, up to 53% today. The cities can make up 86% of the GDP, up from 74% today. Second tier cities such as Pekanbaru, Makassar, Pontianak will grow the most, with more than 7% rates annually. 

3. Growing working-age population
Indonesia population could grow into 280 million from 240 million today, and the demography will remain positive until 2025. That is, the working force will be the main portion of the overall demography

4. An emerging digital and technology-driven nation
Internet access is growing at 20% annually at Indonesia, and expected to reach 100 million users in 2016. This greatly improves connectivity.

With those data, barring catastrophic scenarios, to borrow the trade minister Pak Gita Wirjawan saying, it is very difficult for me not to be optimistic about Indonesia's future

Cara Belajar

Saya sering ditanya oleh teman ataupun saudara tentang cara belajar saya. Selama ini saya kesulitan untuk menjawab, karena saya rasa cara belajar saya ya biasa saja, tidak berbeda dari orang lain. Masalahnya, selama ini saya juga tidak tahu cara belajar orang lain itu seperti apa, hehehe.

 Cara belajar yang baik itu penting. Kenapa? Karena semakin efektif kita belajar semakin banyak yang kita pelajari. Ini bukan hanya berlaku untuk pelajar yang masih bersekolah atau kuliah, tapi bisa untuk mempelajari hal-hal praktis seperti programming atau bahasa.


Kebetulan kemarin saya baca satu artikel di blog Study Hack yang membahas satu metode belajar seorang mahasiswa. Dengan metode ini, si mahasiswa berhasil menguasai empat tahun materi MIT dalam waktu satu tahun saja. Luar biasa kan?  Saya coba pelajari cara belajarnya dan saya bahas di sini. Silahkan disimak.

Langkah pertama adalah tahu lingkup materi. Artinya kita tahu hal-hal apa saja yang harus kita pahami untuk bisa disebut menguasai suatu materi. Untuk bisa tahu lingkup materi, baca bahan-bahan yang ada. Orang seringkali menganggap kita harus langsung paham dalam sekali baca. Akibatnya banyak orang berusaha memelototi suatu materi sampai dia paham betul. Ini akan kurang efektif dan makan waktu terlalu lama. Ingat, kata kuncinya adalah tahu, bukan kuasai. Jadi, kita tidak harus paham betul dulu di tahap ini. Yang penting tahu saja dulu. Cara yang baik di tahap ini adalah dengan membaca (/mendengar kuliah/ menonton video) dengan cepat sambil membuat catatan ringkas. Bisa juga dengan membuat ringkasan satu halaman untuk tiap satu bab buku, misalnya.

Langkah kedua adalah latihan. Fungsi utama latihan adalah untuk tahu apa hal yang tidak kita kuasai. Bisa saja sih kita menggunakan latihan supaya paham, tapi sama seperti langkah pertama, bakal terlalu lama. Hal yang paling penting dari latihan adalah feedback langsung. Evaluasi langsung sangat penting untuk efektivitas latihan kita. Jadi kalau kita mengerjakan soal-soal latihan, yang terbaik adalah kalau kita punya kunci jawaban dari soal-soal tersebut. Selesai kita mengerjakan satu set soal latihan, langsung evaluasi menggunakan kunci jawabannya.

Langkah ketiga dan yang terpenting adalah pemahaman. Di tahap inilah kita benar-benar memastikan penguasaan kita terhadap suatu materi. Untuk mempermudah pemahaman kita, dapat menggunakan metode Feynman. Ambil selembar kertas, tulis judul topik yang kita kuasai, lalu tulis seakan-akan kita sedang mengajari orang lain tentang topik itu menggunakan kata-kata kita sendiri. Saat menulis ini kita boleh bolak-balik membaca bahan materi kita. Saat berusaha menjelaskan kepada orang lain inilah kita akan menemui hal-hal yang akan sulit untuk kita jelaskan. Itu tandanya kita belum paham betul akan hal tersebut. Feynman adalah seorang profesor yang super duper terkenal di bidang Fisika btw. Saya sedang membaca autobiografinya. Tulisannya enak dibaca.

Untuk memperdalam pemahaman kita, coba gunakan analogi-analogi, misalnya bandingkan konsep torsi dengan kegiatan menyekrup. Gunakan juga kata-kata yang sederhana. Makin sederhana makin bagus.

Menurut saya ada lagi yang lebih baik dari metode Feynman, yaitu benar-benar mengajari topik tersebut untuk orang lain. Di samping memperdalam pemahaman kita, kita juga berpahala karena membantu orang. Plus, kita juga bisa tambah ngetop sedikit, hehehe. (Trust me, it works ;) )

Ketiga langkah yang sudah disebut di atas tidak mesti berjalan sendiri-sendiri. Bisa saja kita baca setengah bab kemudian berlatih soal yang sudah kita baca, lalu menggunakan metode Feynman. Atau bisa saja setelah   tahap pemahaman, kita baca ulang materinya, berlatih lagi, kemudian berusaha memahami lebih dalam kembali.

Tips-tips di atas saya coba terapkan untuk artikel cara belajar dari blog Study Hack tadi. Ringkasan saya untuk artikel yang saya baca saya taruh di gambar di bawah. Blog ini adalah implementasi metode Feynmannya.

Oke, demikian tips-tips untuk belajar dengan efektif. Semoga bermanfaat!

Reviews: Inheritance Cycle

## Warning, heavy spoiler ahead ##

It began with Eragon...
It ends with Inheritance!

Well, those are the lines at the back of the last book in the Inheritance cycle from Christopher Paolini. Finally, I finished this series. It took me more than five years to finish reading it since I first picked up the first book. Inheritance is a fantasy story, about the tale of Eragon, the last Rider and his dragon, Saphira. Okay, I'm sold just with that sentence, hahah.

The story sets in Alagaesia, a world where elfs, humans, dwarfs and some other non human races shares the civilization. A world where dragons used to rule. Now, an Empire led by an evil king rules the land. It was Eragon and Saphira's task to overthrown the king and restore the peace to Alagaesia. After many hardships, Eragon finally slain the tyran. The king is dead, long live the queen!

Even though Eragon is the main character of this story, I felt the most connection with Roran. Roran is a step-brother of Eragon. Unlike Eragon, Roran is not a Rider, thus he does not posses elf-like strength and ability like his step-brother. He also can not use magic. He was a simple farmer who just wanted to build his farm as fast as possible so he can propose his loved one. Roran's tale started when his lover was kidnapped and brought deep into the Empire territory. Roran want to save his girl, but he cannot go by himself. At that time, his village was under attack from the Empire. He cannot charge into the Empire by himself, and he also sure his village is doomed with Empire soldiers marching towards them. So, he convince his whole village to migrate the rebels area. By offering the rebels extra manpower from his village, he hopes the rebels will accept them. After that, with the rebels help he can save his lover. And that, he did. Thus, a simple farmer become a leader.

It was a good, long read. If you enjoy a fantasy tale where you can imagine yourself living a whole new world, complete with dungeons and dragons, Inheritance is for you.

The Inheritance cycle: 4/5

Penampilan itu penting!

Satu hal yang saya amati dari orang Korea adalah, mereka sangat memperhatikan penampilan, baik laki-laki dan wanita. Soal cerita banyaknya perempuan Korea yang operasi plastik itu memang benar, paling tidak untuk daerah sekitar mata. Para lelaki juga menjaga supaya kulit mereka tidak hitam dan kasar. Saat saya mengobrol dengan teman Korean saya, dia bilang sih karena orang Korea banyak menilai orang berdasarkan penampilan. Saya sendiri selama ini tidak terlalu memperhatikan penampilan. Kalau lihat saya pakai baju yang bagus, besar kemungkinan bahwa itu adalah pemberian orang, hahahha.

Suatuh malam di lab, teman saya, seorang Korea bertanya, "Taufiq, do you know about flash mob ?" Rupanya dia lagi lihat-lihat video flashmob. "Sure, do you want to see a flashmob video from my hometown?" .Terus saya kirimi lah dia link video ini:

Selesai menonton, reaksi teman saya itu sungguh tidak saya kira. "Taufiq, apa Indonesia lebih maju dibanding Filipina dan Vietnam?". Belum sempat saya menjawab, teman saya dari Vietnam nyamber, "Iya, Indonesia itu paling powerful di SE Asia". "Really?" kata teman Korea saya tak percaya. Well, karena ada benarnya ya saya nyengir aja dan nanya balik, "Kenapa emang?" ."Fashionnya kelihatan modern, dan jalanannya bersih". Well, itu Bandung, so we got fashion alright :p, dan itu Dago, tempatnya memang relatif bersih. Satu lagi yang dikomentarin adalah soal beragamnya rupa orang di video itu. Yaa kalo dibandingin sama di Korea sih ya jelas kelihatan macam-macam ya.

Menarik juga bahwa jalan yang bersih itu bisa jadi indikator majunya suatu negara. Artinya kemajuan suatu negara itu memang tergantung dari budaya orang-orangnya ya. Budaya bersih, budaya antri. Dan kalau soal itu, sedihnya kita memang masih belum maju. Dari laporan pandangan twitter kemarin, banyak teman saya yang ngomel-ngomel karena para #KelasMenengahNgehe yang mampu beli tiket konser SMTown Jakarta saja masih seenaknya buang sampah sembarangan.

Tampaknya teman saya teman saya tadi masih penasaran. Dia langsung nyuruh teman Korea saya yang lain buat me-naver ekonomi Indonesia. Jengjeng! Dan muncullah besarnya ekonomi kita yang cuma satu peringkat di belakang Korea Selatan, hehehe. Sayangnya kita perlu jumlah orang lima kali lebih banyak dari Korea, tapi ya semua butuh proses lah. "Wow, I never thought! Taufiq! This is because of you! Wear better clothes!" 

Hahahha, baiklaaaah.

  

Meninggalkan Jejak

Yak, masih cerita liburan saya, di liburan yang pendek kemarin saya melakukan beberapa perubahan di rumah. Ya, walaupun cuma sebentar, ceritanya saya pengen meninggalkan jejak gitu di rumah. So, ngapain aja?

Pertama lihat rumah, kok kayaknya sudah kusam. Jadilah saya putuskan untuk mengecat pagar rumah. Untungnya masih ada saja toko besi yang buka. Lancar rejekinya ya Koh! Agak telat sih, soalnya sudah H+1, tamu-tamu sudah pada berkunjung, jadi tidak sempat melihat pagar baru (dicat) saya. Pagar selesai dicat, eh bapak keluar bawa sekaleng cat besar, "Ini masih ada cat tembok mas". Jadilah dilanjut sampai garasi sekalian dapat cat baru, hahaha.

Pas pertama masuk kamar kaget. Waduh, kasur saya sudah digusur rupanya. Dan di meja, walah, penuh barang-barang peninggalan saya. Maklum, dulu berangkat ke Koreanya buru-buru, jadi banyak deh peninggalannya. Oke, operasi pembersihan dimulai. Dapat barang-barang usang dua kardus besar. Lumayan rumah jadi tambah luas dikit. Sekalian jual koran bekas yang sudah numpuk. Hebat nih tukang loaknya juga udah kerja aja. Sekilo dihargai seribu rupiah. Lucunya saya disuruh nimbang sendiri pakai timbangan dia. Dapat 20 kilo. Banyak juga.

Terus, liat kabel LAN seliweran tak jelas sengak juga.. Ke BEC, beli wireless router dan receiver. Manjat-majat dikit buat menset access point di rumah. Woala! Sekarang ga perlu gantian lagi kabel LANnya. Bisa online dari HP juga, sambil goler-goler di kursi, hehehe. Ya maklum, telepon saya dilock oleh operator Korea, jadi tidak bisa dipasangi nomor lokal. Mau roaming, waduh bisa tekor saya. Namanya juga masih nyicil teleponnya.

Tadinya masih banyak rencana. Eh tapi ternyata oh ternyata kartu ATM saya tertelan mesin. Susah pula diurusnya karena ATMnya kan atas nama si Dini, adik saya. Repotnya yang bersangkutan sudah terbang lagi ke Padang. Jadilaah saya berlibur yang murah-murah saja. Jalan-jalan ke Pasar Baru sama ibu, main ke ZOE, jajan bebek goreng, daan making a progress in my relationship, eheh.

Well, begitulah liburan yang pendek tapi bermakna. Saatnya kembali ke Korea. Tesis oh tesis, segeralah selesai!

Guilty Shopping

For me, among the most missed things being abroad, reading Indonesian books sits at a high ranks. So what to do when I went to my hometown last time? Shopping of course! Off to Gramedia!

It's quite a pleasant surprise to see the bookstore packed with visitor, especially youngster. There are still many fans of book in this old hometown of mine. Atleast my favorite bookstore won't go out of business in the near future, hehe. It's a relief, considering from what I read nowadays the school does not give reading assignment anymore. Blasphemy!

So these four books were what I got for myself. Three of them are about people's life, two about Pak Dahlan Iskan and the other about Pak Chairul Tanjung. These two guys have a something in common. They have the rags to riches life story. And by riches I mean ultra-mega-filthy rich! How can they gain such achievement, are the contents of the books. (hint: it's not by "pencitraan"). Btw, if you read my reading list, you'll notice that I read a lot of biography. I like biographies. By reading them I can learn from the life of great people as example.

The last book may take you by surprise. Yep, it's about stand up comedy! I admire comics (standup comedians) that can talk about sensitive issues and bring them into bright daylight. They must be smart! I want to know how they do that, hence i bought the book.

I finished three of the books. Well I kinda cheated with the Pak Dahlan books since most of the content I have known previously, so I just skimmed it. I save the comedy book for later, since I want to enjoy that book thoroughly.

So, how about you? What books did you get during the last holiday?

Sejenak Kota Kembang

Banduuung, ibu kota periangan, kota kenangan. Satu setengah tahun saja tidak pulang ke Bandung, rasanya banyak sekali yang berubah.

Pertama kali keluar pesawat, yang ada di pikiran adalah, oh Tuhan enak banget udara Bandung. Tapi langsung prihatin lihat Bandara Husein. Kecil sekali ya gedungnya. Antrian imigrasi hanya ada tiga jalur. Hampir-hampir antrian meluber keluar gedung terminal. Konveyor bagasi cuma ada satu. Meja VOA cuma meja kecil dari kayu. Mungkin karena Bandara Husein adalah bandara dengan peningkatan wisatawan mancanegara terbesar, jadi fasilitasnya tidak siap. Belum lagi Lion pilih Bandung jadi hubnya. Makin banyak saja penumpang Soetta yang beralih ke Husein. Untungnya pengembangan Bandara Husein dipercepat . Semoga lain kali saya terbang dari sana sudah bisa menikmati terminal baru yang megah.

Eh, ini kok jadi kebanyakan link berita yah? Hehe, lanjut. Pulang dari Bandara lewat Pasteur, ternyata jalannya lengang. Sebelumnya sudah siap-siap bermacet ria. Efek dari Lebaran saya kira. Eh sekarang ada putaran baru selain putaran depan BTC. Baguslah, efek macet dari putaran BTC itu berkurang harusnya. Lanjutan Pasteur, di gunung batu sebelah PT. NTP sekarang ada kantor Siemens Power. Jadi ini toh yang bakalan bikin joint venture. Nice lah, semakin banyak perusahaan semakin bagus. Memang satu yang kurang dari Bandung supaya jadi hightech valley macem silicon valley adalah kurangnya perusahaan-perusahaan hightech yang bisa menampung para insinyur jebolan kampus di Bandung. Ayo dong LEN dan DI diperbesar bisnisnya.

Sampai di Jalan Pasantren sudah malam, jadi tidak terlihat angkot-angkot beroperasi. Sekarang bagian jalan yang dibeton semakin banyak. Baguslah, hanya kok tanggung rasanya, kenapa tidak dibeton semua sekalian. Memang sudah tidak terlihat ada lubang sih. Tapi ini musim kering, ujian sesungguhnya akan datang nanti musim hujan.

Memang sepuluh hari itu berlalu sangat singkat kalau dipakai liburan. Apalagi libur lebaran. Sebagian besar waktu dipakai untuk silaturahmi dengan keluarga. Tentu, pertanyaan "wajib" yang bikin gatal telinga tak ketinggalan, hahaha. Untung sekarang ada alasan, selesaikan sekolah dulu, baru menikah, haha! Dan setiap kumpul, tak lupa menyantap opor dan ketupat. Sepuluh hari liburan berat saya naik empat kilogram saja.

Tak lupa kumpul dengan kawan-kawan lama. Kawan sejak SMA yang selalu jadi teman bermain bola. Beberapa teman yang sudah menikah memperkenalkan pasangannya. Mantap! Tapi terlihat tren yang ganjil: yang duluan menikah justru yang dulu saat sekolah tidak aneh-aneh dengan perempuan. Nah lho! Untung saya masuk yang tidak aneh-aneh juga, hehehe. Salah seorang kawan mengadakan resepsi di Biofarma. Sekarang di Biofarma ada gedung masjid megah lho!

Tahu-tahu sudah tiba waktu untuk kembali ke Korea. Ah, malas sekali rasanya packing, sampai ibu harus mengingatkan berkali-kali. Ketika di Bandara Husein, terjadi sedikit insiden. Saya lupa kalau masih harus bayar pajak bandara, padahal sudah sama sekali tidak pegang rupiah. Habis bagaimana, umumnya memang pajak bandara tidak ditagih terpisah. Jadi baguslah kalau sekarang sedang diusahakan penyatuan pajak bandara dengan harga tiket.

Bandung, sampai jumpa lima bulan lagi!

Pulang Dulu

19.08.12

Selamat Idul Fitri

Ini bukannya melupakan masa lalu, ini memberi ruang untuk masa depan! -tsah-

Tutorial: Mencari Jalur Transportasi dengan Naver

Mesin pencari Naver bisa digunakan untuk mencari arah seperti GoogleMaps. Untuk daerah di Korea, arah yang diberikan lengkap dengan petunjuk bus untuk ke sana. Kelemahannya adalah kita harus menggunakan bahasa Korea.

Caranya (klik gambar untuk memperbesar):
1. Buka website naver: http://www.naver.com/
2. Ketikkan "길찾기" (=arah) di kotak pencarian, lalu tekan enter
3. Naver akan membuka halaman pencarian arahnya, seperti terlihat pada gambar. Terdapat dua kolom untuk memasukkan, asal di kolom di sebelah kiri dan tujuan di sebelah kanan.

4. Masukkan tempat keberangkatan dalam bahasa Korea ke kolom 출발지 (=asal) di sebelah kiri dalam bahasa Korea. Misalnya 포항공대 (=Postech). Nanti akan muncul pilihan yang berkaitan dengan tempat yang dimasukkan.
5. Masukkan tempat tujuan dalam bahasa Korea ke kolom 도착지 (=tujuan) di sebelah kiri kanan, juga dalam bahasa Korea. Misalnya 죽도시장 (=Pasar Jukdo). Pilih juga dari pilihan yang muncul.
6. Klik tombol di bawah kolom untuk moda transportasi yang dikehendaki, dari kiri ke kanan:  자동차 (mobil), 버스/지하철 (bus/subway), 자전거 (sepeda),  도보 (jalan kaki).
7. Akan muncul rute yang tersedia, juga pilihan rute alternatif, seperti pada gambar

8. Tersedia juga fitur untuk melihat suasana jalan (mirip fitur StreetView Google). Klik tombol 거리뷰(roadview) di sebelah kanan gambar di atas, lalu klik pada ruas jalan yang terlihat dalam peta. Akan muncul panorama jalan yang dipilih. Pengguna lalu dapat menggunakan panah navigasi untuk menyusuri dan melihat suasana sekeliling jalan. Gambar di bawah memperlihatkan suasan jalan di depan Pasar Jukdo.

Demikian, semoga bermanfaat!

Fun Presenting with Prezi

We all know about the all too familiar Powerpoint presentations. They are mostly follows similar structure and used to present about virtually anything, which become the defacto standard of presentation slides. So, when my friend shown me Prezi, I was excited.

Prezi is a tool to make presentations, or "prezis" as they are called, with a unique way of transition between focuses. Instead of just slides between slides, prezis jumps from one focus to the other by zooming in and out. Actually this product is one that I have in mind when I tried to learn Flash last year. Indeed, Prezi is also Flash-based. But as the saying goes, your ideas are worthless, execution is king. The guys at Prezi simply nailed it. Hats off!

Here is a prezi that I made this weekend. I had some fun and the end result is not too shabby. Watch in fullscreen to enjoy.

*for you who wonder, this presentation illustrates the IT system of PERPIKA which designed by yours truly.

Life Questions to Think About

Hello, been a long time. Why? Life, as usual.

I read “How Will You Measure Your Life”, an old article from 2010, wrote by Prof. Clayton M. Christensen of HBS.  This article feels so relevant to me since now I’m in my last phase of my study. I wished I had read it when I graduate from my undergrads.

On the last day of his class, Prof. Christensen asked his students to find their answers of these three questions:
1. How can I be sure I will be happy in my career?
2. How can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness?
3. How can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail?

The first question is a classical one. Since career is one thing that will take major slice of your life, it should bring us happiness right? Well, the popular answer nowadays is “Find your passion!” Unfortunately, that suggestion is not so practical. I spend some time after my graduation pivoting with some jobs, yet I still did not feel this passion thingy. I am not saying that it is a waste of time to try finding your passion. I learned many things and now I do have some idea about how I want to lead my life. It was time well spent, yet it is not enough to guarantee your happiness on your career.

The second question for me is interesting in a peculiar way. You see, just recently I stepped –up my relationship with my partner. Well, we already talk about marriage since day one, but now that both of us are at the end of our study we talk about it more concretely.  You know, making plan together, talk about jobs, parents opinion, monthly budgets, car-or-house first, those kinds of stuffs. So this question will fit in quite nicely in our discussion.  

The third question might sound silly, but it is a serious one. There are already some people from my alumni that spend some time behind the bars. I’m quite sure none of them planned to do so when they graduated, and I definitely do not plan to follow their footsteps. Therefore, some conscious decisions have to be made regarding this.

To sum up, the article is very insightful for me. I’m I highly recommend you to block some reading time, since it is quite lengthy, and go read it deeply.  Now excuse me, I have some thinking to do.

POSTECH Shuttle Bus Schedule

Diambil di Bus Stop Jigok Community Center

E-Toll Implementation

Thanks to a big ruckus by our minister, the issue of long queue at toll booths has gained my attention. My memory flashed back two years ago when I was a regular user of highway. At least twice a month I did Jakarta-Bandung round trip, commuting between Jakarta and Bandung. It seems that there is no improvement since there.

This is a minister who ordered to cut the queue line in toll booth until the length of five, and saw a 30 cars long queue at 6 AM in the morning. When he saw that the two out of four booths are closed because the employees were late, he got furious. Hence, the chair throwing is understandable. If something get wrong in my works just because somebody's laziness, things start flying too.

Long queue due to human negligence like this would not have happened if we already adopted E-toll payment system. In fact, Mandiri already launched E-Toll card since 2009. From the discussion in my alumni mailing list, in term of number of transaction, the card already has reach a number equivalent to 20% of all credit cards number of transaction in Indonesia, or 75% of all debit cards transaction. The numbers suggest that actually the toll card has dominated the Indonesian card payment realm. Why it does not have expected impact? I guess that show the barrier of implementation is more cultural than technical. Indonesian just does not used to pay with cards. In this respect, the operators should have been more aggressive in marketing. Taking example from Korea, the operator can use discount to get more customer to adopt the card payment. In Korea, card users will get discount ranging from 5% to 50%, depends on the time and location.

Another example of culture barriers is the implementation of nonstop E-Tollpass. In other countries, it is possible to make e-toll payment completely without stopping. The booth will detect the cards in your car remotely, see your ID, and deduct the fee from your account.  If you pass through the non stop gate  without valid account, hence not paying, a camera would shot your licence plate. Soon there a fine letter will arrive at you address. All this is technically possible to be implemented in Indonesia. One problem however is that when people buy/sell second hand cars, they commonly do not change the owner identity of the car, especially if the buyer and the seller are related. Hence, if the car do violation, the previous owner will get the fine instead of the culprit (serve him right IMO since it was due to his negligence). Therefore even in non-stop E-Tollpass the operators install mechanical gates that will not open without the detection appropriate payment.

This case of e-toll implementation prove that localization is important in technology adoption in developing country.

Single Playlist Hari Ini

Hari ini iseng nonton pilem lama

I have often dreamed of a far off place
Where a hero's welcome would be waiting for me
Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face
And a voice keeps saying , this is where I'm meant to be

I'll be there someday, I can go the distance
I will find my way, if I can be strong
I know every mile will be worth my while
When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong

Down an unknown road to embrace my fate
Though that road may wander, it will lead me to you
And a thousand years would be worth the wait
It might take a lifetime, but somehow I'll see it through

And I won't look back, I can go the distance
And I'll stay on track, no, I won't accept defeat
It's an uphill slope, but I won't lose hope
Till I go the distance and my journey is complete

But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part
For a hero's strength is measured by his heart

Like a shooting star, I will go the distance
I will search the world, I will face its harms
I don't care how far, I can go the distance
Till I find my hero's welcome waiting in your arms

I will search the world, I will face its harm
Till I find my hero's welcome waiting in your arms



Go the Distance - Michael Bolton
lyrics from: http://amayasfavoritelyrics.blogspot.com/2012/03/go-distance-michael-bolton.html

Single Time Zone for Indonesia

The most mind catching headlines this week for me is this: RI to Save Trillions of Rupiah by Merging Time Zone. Upon reading, I was very excited, this is one of the best idea from our goverment! Why? Because this is a low hanging fruit (a.k.a. easy win) to boost our national output. Win? Easy?  Let’s elaborate the pros and cons.

Coordinating Minister for Economy Hatta Radjasa said that by having time zone across the archipelago and with neighboring countries, economic activities will have better management and could be more efficient. The potential saving can be up to trillions rupiah. There is a logic jump in the minister statement, maybe due to time constraint.

Since I do not have the data and models, I can only guess where the trillions come from. By having three time zone, there are two hours time difference in working window of people in the western zone with the people in the eastern zone. By unifying time zone, suddenly there are an extra two hours for transactions everyday. This should provide some jumps in national outputs. Trading and banking with many other countries in GMT+8 will also get same effect. Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Hongkong, all are in GMT +8. More trading with these countries will give significant boost to our outputs. I expect this is the major components from the trillions “saved”.

There are also some “minor” advantages. One thing is the flight schedule will be simplified. The Jakartans also would go earlier (according to the sun), so they don’t have to burn as many fuel for air conditioning on their way.

The biggest cons of the plan is, hundreds million of people should change their time agreement and daily habit. Many say that this will cause chaos, but is it true? Maybe because Indonesian are tropical people they have much concern against the idea, but for our fellows at many four-seasoned countries are familiar with “time shifting”, albeit for different reason. To conserve power during winter, many countries adopt Daylight Saving Time (DST).  With DST, people should shift their time twice a year, and they can do it without any chaos.

It can be argued that we can not model our country situation with those country because their situation is too much different. Well, the Philippines, a tropical country, has tried DST in the past. Pakistan, a Muslim country with almost 200 million people also tried DST without much uproar. So there is no reason why Indonesia can not do this shift, once in a life time.

Sure, there will be some discomfort, but Indonesia need to pick up pace as soon as possible. This policy can be a way to tell all the Indonesians that we are changing and moving. And that everybody should shoulder the progress, united as a country.

One thing that is not appropriate from this idea is the way the government present it. One minister talk that there is this “plan” that suppose to “save: trillion of rupiah but it is not clear when or whether the policy will be active at all. This study sparks many debates, as every changes would, which is counter-productive. If the government already did the necessary research (as they claimed) and sure that this policy is the way to go, they should just make a formal press conference, explain the policy, including all the study involved, and release the effective date. And the timing is not elegant. This issue appears just before the increase of subsidized fuel next month. That’s why many people accuse this issue as a diversion from the fuel issue. A pity, since this is a real way to boost our economy.

LaTex !

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

Hello universe!

The \& is a special characters

\end{document}

Monsters of Grand Line

One Piece is one of the most popular manga in the world. It tells about Luffy and his crews of pirate, who aspire to be the greatest pirates in the world.

One Piece has many aspects that make it interesting, but for me the most interesting part is the world concept. The world is in an era of marines and pirates. Among all ocean in the world, there is an area which by far are more dangerous than any other place in the world. The weather is unpredictable, the sea monsters are ferocious and normal compass does not work. Even just to enter will require the greatest seamen of the world.

This concept is interesting because that is pretty much how I see the world. Yes, of course we do not have sea monsters out there *perhaps*. But you see, pretty much in every field possible, there are always some people that do their things in an entirely different game from the common people. They are "the monster". Take football for example. In football, the "grand line" is World Cup, and athletes who play in World Cup play an entirely different level from the "tarkam" player. This situation is present in many other field. There are businessmen, scientisst, surgeons, who are monsters. And when you do "their game", you will feel a terrifying level of awesomeness. So, I can relate to the page when Luffy and the gangs enter the "New World" the second level of Grand Line. Deliciously awesome!

somethings to shoulder

Happy lunar new year! Gong xi fa cai!

In Korea, this is a big holiday, with three days of national holiday on the calendar. I use this holiday to do somethings that I haven't done for a while: playing games, reading books, and catching up with my sister. She just went through her first week in Padang, a city more than a thousand kilometers from our hometown. It's her first time far away from home, so I'm a little worried. Hopefully she can immediately feels comfortable and accepted there.

Chatting with my sister made me think about my situation. Two of my younger siblings has started their first job, and the third is taking a national university exam this year. My father just retired from his job, but I heard that he make a venture with his friends in his retirement. Glad that he found something to work on, since I know have nothing to do will do harm for him. Problem is, I am not sure if our family have enough financial safety net. Making sure of this is one of my responsibility, being the oldest son of the family.

Lastly, I really should plan about my own family. Due to circumstances, I just float the matter in the air. Things will be different in one year, when I will have my graduation, Insya Allah. I cannot call myself a man if I keep fooling around then.

All these factors will limit my option in the future. For example, making a high risk tech venture is certainly a no go.This is not necessarily a bad thing. When I had my first graduation, I was overwhelmed by the many choices that I became paralyzed. Now I know what my options are and I can choose much clearer. Bad news is, none of them are "easy".

Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.



Gee, my English story telling skill is deteriorating.

2012: Tahun Berpikir Positif

Ahey 2012! Selamat tahun baru! telat banget ya? :)) Biasa, sibuk, hehe.

Kalau tahun2 sebelumnya saya punya berbagai resolusi spesifik, untuk tahun 2012 ini saya cuma punya satu niatan saja: lebih banyak berpikir positif! Iya, banyak orang bilang saya itu orangnya sudah optimis, tapi sepertinya masih kurang. Berpikir positif yang saya bahas di sini lebih ke arah berpikir positif ke orang. Jujur, selama ini kalau saya berhadapan dengan orang yang belum saya kenal dengan baik, pikiran pertama saya adalah orang ini punya niat yang tidak baik. Ini sebabnya saya jarang termakan isu atau kena tipu orang, hehe.

Kalau kata Pak Dahlan Iskan di video ini, berpikir positif itu untungnya adalah berpikiran terbuka untuk ide-ide baru dan gampang adaptasi di lingkungan baru. Saya kira ini adalah hal yang sangat penting di era globalisasi hari ini. Ruginya? Hmm, mungkin akan lebih banyak kecewa ya? Ah tapi rasanya tidak apa-apa kecewa satu dua kali lebih banyak. Sudah dua puluh lima tahun gitu lho.

Ok, shall the show begin!

dua lima

Time to create some magic!

Pic from bayasaa