Maverick Indonesia

From Fashion and Lifestyle to Economy and Politics

In Maverick, we believe that life is about reinventing yourself. So when a friend decided to reinvent herself, it is only natural for us to celebrate that.
Jessica Huwae has been in the media for eight years.

She started a stint in Cita Cinta Magazine (Femina Group) in 2000 as a reporter. In 2004, she moved to Spice! Magazine under the MRA Group, first as senior editor and in 2006 move up the ladder as Chief Editor.

(more…)

Goodbye Simon Jones…

Our deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of Simon Jones, one of Metro TV’s English editors. As a colleague, Simon was well known to be extremely helpful. As a friend, he was always very funny and a nice person to talk to.

May you rest in peace, Simon Jones. You’ll be greatly missed.

Taxable and bankable

I’m a bit late with this posting but there was two weeks in a row when we had financial types coming to Maverick to speak at our sharing session on Fridays.

The first was on 8 June 2007 when Susanto from SIS&M Consulting shared with us his knowledge about Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak (NPWP). NPWP is an administration number provided to individuals as an identification or identity number of tax payers to fulfill their taxation rights and obligations.

Can people be exempted? Yes, but only to those who earn below Rp13.2 million a year. That amount is the tax threshold.

Like most people I’d rather not pay tax but alas tax evasion does have its penalties. Susanto says that “there will be 20% tax penalty to your existing tax obligations if you fail to own an NPWP.” Ha! Everyone in the room was silenced.

Susanto added that in the future, every transaction will be based on tax planning. We cannot own or buy a property if our tax data shows that our income is not enough to do so. Leasing from banks will check on individuals’ who applies for a certain leasing product referring to the NPWP.

That, at least, is the theory but have you wondered why the taxman never goes after all those generals and politicians who drive around in posh cars and live in luxurious mansions that would cost them 5,000 lifetimes of their salaries?

Our second speaker was Bimo Notowidigdo, a treasurer in Citi Indonesia, who visited Maverick on 15 June 2007. Bimo is one of the lecturers in the Citi University Banking Course, so he was very familiar with his material.

A bank, said Bimo, is “a financial intermediary institution.” It’s as simple as that. From this stand point, a bank provides various services and products.

Now, what really happens to our money in the bank?

First, when we put our money into a savings account, the money actually stays in the bank only for a while. Banks immediately try to allocate that money into various kinds of investments, be it in the form of personal or corporate loans, credit cards, etc. This is why we get paid interest on our savings.

Bimo continued to share with us on financial management decisions. Most of the stuff here was “off the record” so I regret that we can’t tell you what was shared. Suffice to say that it makes for interesting listening.

PR Practitioners in Indo: A Sad Case?

An article published yesterday in Bisnis Indonesia stated the urgency for PR practitioners in Indonesia to increase their competencies. As somebody who’s making a living from being a PR hack, this article without doubt caught my attention.

Ex-PR of Pertamina Ridwan Nyak Baik, as quoted in Bisnis, said that in Indonesia “there has got to be a strong effort to increase the competency and professionalism of PR practitioners to counter the attack of foreign workers”.

Fair enough, but please tell me something new. With the increasingly open job markets, practically everybody face similar obstacles.

What I found quite disturbing in the article was when Ridwan quoted a report from the National Profession Certification Body (Badan Nasional Sertifikasi Profesi) which basically was saying that currently there were 1,000 PR practitioners in Indonesia, in which four of them were categorized as experts, 39 possessed mid-level skills, and 957 had no skills at all.

Questions were popping out of the confused tiny little brain of mine:

1. I know that some Indon PR practitioners hold international certifications, but as far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong), there is no certification system available for PR practitioners in Indonesia. Where did the numbers in the report come from?

2. How did the report define experts, mid-level practitioners, and zero skills practitioners (why even bother calling someone a practitioner if he/she possesses no skills whatsoever)?

3. When did the national body issue the report? It amazed me how Bisnis Indonesia could bluntly quoted Ridwan without even bother to include the year and title of the report. So much for being a “trusted business reference”…

I have a strong interest in the development of PR practice in Indonesia. And shall the report is accurate, it is definitely a sad case for all PR practitioners in this country. Anybody out there know the answer to my questions? I’d also be interested to hear from you on how PR practitioners could advance themselves.

A creative afternoon

Everyone is creative and so is every line of business! Quite a remark he made while many of us still believe that creativity is a talent possessed by selective people who are blessed with fresh and new ideas or concepts. But that’s not what he believes.. It’s a matter of being able to see something not only in the context ‘out of the box’ but also by keeping in mind what is the root of the business that’s already IN the box. Hmmm…

Last Friday, another sharing session was conducted at the office. We’re inviting Yoris Sebastian, the owner and Creative Director of OMG – Oh My Goodness Creative Consultancy. A consultancy named after his biggest hope of the reaction given by his clients would be. I found it very interesting.

Yoris is an easy person to talk to. His passion for creativity shines through his eyes when he shared us stories about his journey to be where he is right now. Heading a consultancy that has been around for only 2.5 months, I considered him to be very successful for having reputable clients like; FX, Magenta Orchestra and the Island of Bali!

OMG sells ideas and fresh concepts to help clients who wish to convey a certain message to their clients or audience. Brand awareness let’s say. For ideas that are really significant, Yoris will have it registered, “so that prospective clients won’t use it without my permission, should we fail to work together” he said.

The discussion was very insightful that we talked about so many things. Most of them were about how to come up with ideas when you’re really stuck and can no longer think of anything else. Diplomatically he said, it’s a matter of how you see things from a different perspective. Instead of saying, there’s nothing we can do about it, why not start saying what else do we have that we haven’t looked at yet… An example was “I Like Monday of Hard Rock”, where he helped to create and develop the concept. We want to make Indonesian music to be the host in our country, and how to do that? Instead of having Indonesian band performing during weekends which are considered as ‘udah biasa banget’ and will not going to sell, why don’t we target any other day where young people would still like to come and have some fun and watch some local  musician playing. Monday was chosen as the day where performances by local bands or musicians are conducted live at Hard Rock Café. It turned out to be more than just successful. Most people hate Monday because it’s the start of the week after a weekend. Feeling lazy is maybe one of the factors. How to help eliminate this factor is by lifting up the spirit with the positioning where after a long day on Mondays, they get to relax and watch a fun and affordable entertainment.   

That was just a tiny bit of our whole session with Yoris. For sure, it was a very interesting one. Thanks very much Yoris. Hope we can do this again sometime in the future!

The Community Builder

It’s been a while since the last time we had a visit for a sharing session. It was Bang Win (Abang Edwin) who accepted our invitation last Friday, 4th May 2007.

For those who are active in online communities, Bang Win may not be an unfamiliar profile at all. He is the pioneer of some of Indonesian web and mailing list based communities. Nine years have he spent setting up and moderating online communities.

But what has he to got gain from this activity? Before answering this question, let’s find out his tips to maintain such communities.

Well, as the actual community, online communities consist of people with the same interest. First of all, it isn’t hard to get people to join a group, joining a mailing list for example. But after a while, people tend to get bored. Now, this is a job for a moderator. Moderator must spend extra efforts to maintain a cheerful, lively and loyal crowd.

Experience has provided Bang Win with a conclusion that a moderator must be able to throw issues around to drive the crowds’ attention. From the very beginning, the moderator must have a plan written down – consist of timetable on topics, responses towards ‘deviant’ members, etc. 

What will you get from loyal community members is, in economic term, a captive market. “You can sell almost anything to the community members as long as it is within their interest.” For those marketers out there, interest driven communities are very segmented market. Trade can also take place among members, as has been happening in most communities.

Now, answering the above question, Bang Win has become a consultant for setting up communities. His service will include software training, planning, community managements, and all sorts of stuff related to setting up and maintenance of an online community.

Another question raised: how much is the fee?

“They’d call me a dirty old man…”

My lazy Sunday brunch with a few friends was turned into a heated discussion over an article published on yesterday’s The Jakarta Post (29/04) titled “More sex please, we’re British”. Read the complete article here.

I have nothing against interracial/multinational marriages, but I’m personally sickened by the insensitive and ruthless comments given by Sheldon Archer as follows:

“Let’s face it; every middle-aged man has a fantasy of making it with a young girl – just ask Bill Clinton. Here in Indonesia fantasy can become fact.” You don’t take this as a compliment, really.

“I married a child.” Yuck.

“I had to become a Muslim to marry. I just mumbled a few words I didn’t understand. I’m not religious and Yuyun isn’t serious about religion.” This is what I meant by insensitive and ruthless.

And here’s a gem…

“There’s a bit of hero worship. They like white skin.” As one of my friends put it, “I’m jumping up and down with fervent-hero-worship joy.”

I’m writing an email to Srikandi, a non-profit organization in Indonesia for local women who are married – or were married – to foreigners, to ask their views about this. Will keep you posted when I hear from them.

Update 1 May: Srikandi is currently developing a written statement outlining their views about this article. They are not too happy though… A representative from Srikandi was replying to my email saying that “the article is truly degrading Indonesian women”.

In the article, Sheldon also said that people would call him “a dirty old man” back in his hometown, Sheffield. What would you call him here? But before you answer, please also visit this website to get a better sense of the sort of business he’s running.

Seriously accountable

It’s always gratifying to receive messages from Charles M. Ham, the Country Director of HOPE worldwide – Indonesia. HOPE operates in more than 100 countries, focusing on helping societies in the education and health sectors as well as children and social welfare.

Charles Ham has been proactively sending updates of HOPE’s activities in Indonesia.  Below is the latest message I received in my mailbox. Glad to know that HOPE is taking accountability issue seriously.

“Dear Friends & Donors of HOPE worldwide Indonesia,

Greeting from Jakarta!

We would like to share with you the March 12, 2007 report from Independent Auditor’s report on 2006 Financial Statements of HOPE worldwide Indonesia (locally registered as Yayasan Hope Indonesia) :

“In our opinion, the financial statements presented fairly in all material respect…………in conformity with generally accepted accounting principals (GAAP) in Indonesia”

As many of you may notice, There has been plenty of pressure among the media regarding accountability issue of NGOs in Indonesia. President of Indonesia request more regulation on NGOs for professionalism, The Global Fund for Aid Tuberculosis, and Malaria has frozen its funding for Indonesia since April 2007 after discrepancies reported by Pricewaterhouse Cooper, Oxfam scandal in Aceh, The World Bank’s Director scandal are just some of the coverage we have seen in the media lately.

Every year without failure, HOPE worldwide Indonesia is audited by independent auditor to keep up with our core values and beliefs, which is headed by Accountability. Charity Navigator , the international NGO watchdog for 6 years in a row since its formation has awarded  HOPE worldwide 4 star rating (highest one for exceptional) in fiscal management. Only 45 non profit organization are recipient of such honor, in which only 29 are NGos while 19 are top universities. (www.charitynavigator.org).

In 2005, Resource Alliance also recognized HOPE worldwide Indonesia as one of the NGOs in Asia Pacific that “have very good practices in the areas of resource mobilization and governance, accountability, transparency”.

With your support, we are able to continue services to the people of Indonesia holding on to these principals.

Thank you for your continuos support.”

Our first association with HOPE was for one of Citibank Peka’s community development programs called the Citigroup Success Fund (CSF). CSF disburses funds to high school teachers for developing creative and fun learning experiences for their students. The program has been running for four years in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya.

In conjunction with the National Education Day on May 2, HOPE and Citigroup Indonesia will organize the 2006 CSF Winner Announcement - so fellow journalists please feel free to come.  More info about this event is available on the ‘Check This Out’ column in this blog.