Déjà vu

Since the first day of our arrival in Kuala Lumpur, about two-and-a-half years ago, both Tari and I share one (of our many) impressions of KL. We think that KL today (or at least part of it) is somewhat like Jakarta around the 80's and 90's - with today's technology.

Don't get me wrong - this is mostly positive impression.

When our relocation agent took us to the Central Market, it immediately reminded us to Blok M, especially the part next to Aldiron Plaza, where Bakmi Boy and shops selling custom plaques, stickers and shirts were located - near the bowling alley. Aldiron Plaza, by the way, rocked. I remember two or three music stores on the ground floor, some video rentals on the top floor, and of course Happy Days. Those were the happy days...
(photo from Yahoo! Travel)

We also think that traffic here is comparable to that of Jakarta in the early 90's - both from the perspectives of traffic jam or congestion, and also from the number of motorcycles. Oh how we thank God for this.

The on-going development, i.e. structural construction, is also similar, in one way or another. There is hardly any places in KL that passes the day without any construction - just like Jakarta during its booming period. Even development of commercial places in residential areas is happening - which I don't think is a good thing.

Nightlife seems to be around the ballpark. I ain't no club hopper - far from it; but even then I can clearly tell the difference from what my friends in Jakarta tell me (yeah, right). You know, it's like the era of Musro, Ori, Ebony, or Parrots in Jakarta. Or when Kemang was still under control. Or Studio East in Bandung. Ouch!

The recent arrest of HINDRAF's members was also quite identical to how freedom of speech was in Indonesia in the 80's. Even Taiping prison seems to serve the same function as Nusa Kambangan prison (well, they are both prisons).

I believe there are more that, being insensitive and ignorant, I overlooked. But my take is, if history is to repeat itself, these two neighboring countries have to learn from each other.

Malaysia can learn to not repeat the mistakes that Indonesia made - whatever they were. For Indonesia, having long term plan and vision (and execute them with less deviation) is probably one of the things to copy from Malaysia.

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... and the lions were beaten...

Last Sunday our condo had a Lion Dance performance, celebrating the Chinese New Year. This, at least, was the second year we had such performance, and it seemed that everyone - the spectators - was more prepared and skillful.

Part of the performance was the lions giving out oranges. Last year Anya and Ben were overwhelmed with the oranges they got; this year they brought big shopping bags.

Others decided to take faith into their own hands. They decided to claim their oranges rather than waiting for them. Poor lions. It was all chaos.


The performance was stunning, though.

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Joining the Indonesia Global Network

The link to join the LinkedIn group should be:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/48376/79692A0FE65F

68 members in LinkedIn, covering all "regions", except Africa and South America (the closest is Mexico).

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Busy

Been busy like bees - mostly over the weekends, with works, guests, and trips. I went to Genting, (yup, again) with guests, spent a weekend observing my team going through a teambuilding activity, interviewed an MBA applicant (and completed the evaluation), and went to Singapore for the Police concert (they rocked!). My parents are visiting at the moment.

Here's Tari's hand during the concert (and some other pictures below):


And other things that occupies and just can't get out of my mind. I hope to settle many things in the next few weeks.

I've missed reading blogs for weeks now, but created a lot of drafts. Yeah, those unfinished, useless drafts that sometimes I didn't even remember what I was trying to say. Not that I have much to say -- Tari can attest to that.

Some photos I took in the concert.

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Indonesia Global Network

A friend of mine - and I am helping him - initiated a LinkedIn networking group called Indonesia Global Network. We also created a mailing list in Yahoo! with the same name.

The idea is to connect fellow Indonesians who are currently living abroad. We hope the members will help each other in their professional and personal life by exchanging information, expertise, experience, and favors.

I've invited some fellow bloggers to this group, and please feel free to join if you haven't. The group is currently limited only to those who are living abroad at this moment. We try not to overwhelm ourselves and grow out of control. There are definitely ups and downs of this, and I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Here are the links:
Network group in LinkedIn
Mailing list on Yahoo!


Dear Members,

Thank you for joining the Indonesia Global Network (IGN), and welcome to the group. You are now connected with other Indonesian Professionals with similar background and situation.

The idea of initiating this group is for members to help each other in their professional and personal life by exchanging information, expertise, experience, and favors. This mailing list is a medium for collective communication among members, in either English or Indonesian. Please feel free to invite your qualified connections to join this group.

We would appreciate if you could share the following information to the group:
- How long you have been away from Indonesia.
- What you like most from the place you are currently living.
- Your expectations from this group and suggestions to get there.

Please take the advantage of LinkedIn IGN group network to view other members' rich professional profiles, through the link below. You may contact these individuals directly to discuss your specific interest.

http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&sortCriteria=3&groupFilter=48376

In posting and sending messages to all group members, please observe the following common etiquettes:
- No spam, MLM, commercial advertisement, or things alike. Senders will be banned immediately without notice.
- Set this mailing list as exception in the auto-reply features (such as out-of-office auto reply).
- Keep email subject relevant to the content.
- Respect others' opinions; do not insult others when in disagreement.
- No attachment. Please files send to Admins to upload and member to view/ download at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndonesiaGlobalNetwork/files/

Best,
Admins

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2007 by numbers

I like numbers. They're exact. They're not wishy-washy. They're not dependent on how one sees it.

Here's my 2007 by numbers, subject to memory bias.

1 - the sight of the Petronas Twin Towers from mi casa. Down from 2.

8624, approximately - number of visits to this blog. I'm sure the majority was my own visits. Up from, I believe, below 100.

7 - the highest number of guests staying over in a night. Up from 5.

143 - size of the group I'm leading. Up from 8.

17 - return air trips to Jakarta in 2007 for the whole family. Up from 10.

1 - number of cigars smoked. Stay at 1.

And here are two views of the towers from the balcony...

February 2007

January 2008

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Happy new year

Happy new year, everyone!

For the third time in a row, we spent the new year's eve in KL. This time, though, it wasn't in an apartment.

We celebrated the new year countdown at SouledOut, with its SoulStock theme night. We got companies too! Thirteen guests were joining us -- seven stayed in our place. Full house!

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Good coffee

Since Rizal of Café Salemba wrote today about good coffee (with economics spin), I feel obligated to share my happiness to finally find the good coffee I like - Taster's Choice from Nescafé. This is one of those things I haven't been able to find since we moved to KL.

Last week when I went to Singapore and had the time to do things I usually don't when I have to go there, Tari and I went to Mustafa Shopping Center. We spent some quality time until 2 AM at Mustafa (kids are with their cousins and grandma). I went home with my Taster's Choice. She got her iPod Nano. We were both happy.

Yeah, I'm not that sophisticated.

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At-the-moment-addiction: Scrabulous

Yup, I have some free time towards the year-end. And I use some of them to play Scrabulous - kind of online Scrabble - on Facebook.

What's good about playing online is that all players need not be online at the same time. You can check how the game progress at any time. Which is also not a so-good thing if you're playing with someone who travels a lot. (this can be mitigated by playing more than one game at a time)

Since we can try words, it's amazing to find out a lot of new "words" out there. Like my friend's favorite, ZA, which doesn't appear in Merriam-Webster dictionary. (it may be defined as South Africa's country code, .za, or a short version of pizza)

Or XU, which means "a coin formerly minted by South Vietnam equivalent to the cent".

Currently, the highest-scoring word listed in the global statistics page on Scrabulous is worth 1,778 points - "OXYPHENBUTAZONE". (as a comparison, my highest scoring game was 305 points.)

Cool, eh?

There are many websites that assist players to find such words, like Scrabulous Dictionary, Scrabble cheat-o-matic, More Words, or WordNavigator. Some consider this as cheating.

Scrabulous was founded two years ago in India, and debuted in Facebook last July. Players can play either on Scrabulous website or on Facebook. While we can play against any friends in Facebook, we can play against anyone on Scrabulous website.

It even sells merchandises online. Like this thong.


Perhaps for some fanatics...

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Studying aboard

Ever thought of furthering your education? Forget about the conventional MBA or Ph.D. Try studying aboard (yes aboard, not a typo of abroad) with the Scholar Ship.

What is The Scholar Ship?
The Scholar Ship is a recognized academic program aboard a transformed passenger ship hosting both undergraduate and postgraduate students on semester-long voyages around the world. Participants from diverse cultural backgrounds come together to co-create a transnational learning community that develops their intercultural competence and fosters lifelong friendships.

It offers both undergraduate and postgraduate studies, in areas like International Communication, International Relations, and some more.

What I can't get out of my mind, however, is the fact that there are many ways of communications. Like verbal and non-verbal. And in one semester, students have more than enough time to practice both... and any relations that come with it.

There are tons of examples - and theories, I believe - that prove being together for a period of time may spark something among the participants.

My wife and I, for instance, sort of met in a summer stay program. Or Rob and Amber, from the TV show Survivor, who got married a couple years ago. And all the flings and affairs that happen at work, in business trips, during study exchange programs, and in other "opportunities".

Knowing that these will happen, the program should consider expanding its core and elective courses beyond international communications and relations. Students will surely have a lot from the semester-long practice to analyze during case study discussion.

Two that top my mind are:

• Social psychology, with Interpersonal Relation as the core subject.
• Biology, with concentration in human anatomy.

Submit your application here.

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